The Price of Addiction
by Senshi of Ruin
Summary: When Shinji’s drug addiction lands him in trouble with the local Chinese gangs, Sho finds himself becoming a target as he battles to save his brother and the people that he cares about. ShoxKei!
1. Prologue

**The Price of Addiction**

**By Senshi of Ruin**

**Prologue:**

It was becoming lighter outside. From the holes in the tattered drapes, Toshi could see the first signs of dawn clearly enough. He shifted his position slightly, agitated as he darted a glance in Kei's direction. The vampire hadn't moved and Toshi was unable to tell if he was even conscious anymore. Kei had been weak before and now… Toshi again felt stirrings of fear deep within himself although he had struggled to remain calm for the three of them.

The only sounds in the dark, besides his own breathing, were the shallow gasps coming from the man beside him. Toshi could scent blood in the air and he knew for Kei this would be magnified. Before today, Toshi knew without question that Kei would never harm them. Now, however, he was not so sure.

"Sho." Toshi whispered as he leaned over his friend. The ragged remains of Kei's white shirt hung limply in Sho's right hand, stained red with blood. "You need to keep the pressure on the wound." Toshi insisted, reaching out to take the cloth from him. He shuddered as he recalled Kei's urgent words as they were forced to retreat. They could still hear the raised Chinese voices edging closer and closer. They were still looking for them.

"Shinji…" Sho groaned, only half-conscious as Toshi pressed the cloth to his injured shoulder.

Toshi silently shook his head. When Sho was wounded, it was all that Kei could do to keep the men off of them long enough for them to retreat. Shinji had been captured or he was…

"I have to go. Nii-chan…" Sho tried to stand but he had lost so much blood that he was barely able to offer any resistance when Toshi pushed him back down.

"You can't fight." He whispered fiercely, "You'll be killed."

"What else do you suggest?" Sho replied softly as he gave in and applied pressure to the wound once more. "That we wait until they find us?"

"We don't have any weapons and Kei is too weak. We don't stand a chance against them! Our only hope is to wait until they've moved further away. Then we can make a break for it."

"And what about Shinji? I'm not leaving him."

There was nothing that Toshi could say in reply to this. Shinji was as good as dead and they would be as well if they tried to rescue him. With the dawn almost upon them and Sho too badly injured to fight, Toshi knew that they were running out of time.

Sighing, he leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, listening to the voices that were gradually moving closer.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: A Starvation Diet**

_(Three days earlier)_

He looked terrible; Sho thought with a wince as he peered over the top of the magazine he was pretending to be absorbed in reading. His companion, either not noticing or not caring for his sudden interest, was sprawled out on his leather cot-bed, one arm draped over his chest and the other hanging down over the side of the bed, his fingertips brushing the floor. His gaze was focused on the ceiling; his expression pensive and every now and again a soft sigh would escape his parted lips.

How many weeks had it been? To be honest, Sho was starting to lose count. It must have been at least three since Kei's last feed. He had always been thin and pale but this had been accentuated as of late. He almost _too_ thin and his face was tired looking. His eyes weren't as bright and he rarely even cracked a smile anymore. Each time he moved it was with a monumental effort and even crossing the room was an exertion in the past twenty-four hours. Kei needed to feed and soon or Sho didn't know what was going to happen.

Kei had to be aware of just how much his starving himself tormented Sho. It had only become a regular feat in the later years of Sho's life and he just didn't understand why. There was always a certain amount of sadness hidden inside of Kei, no matter how much he tried to suppress it, but lately that sadness had turned into depression and he began to curse his existence again. Sho hated it when Kei talked about himself that way. Despite the very little that was said on the subject, Kei was the most important person in the world as far as Sho was concerned but that wasn't enough for him. Still he tortured himself this way. Tortured them both for it was agonising for Sho to watch. Once he had even offered Kei his own blood. Angered, Kei had refused but this offer had prompted him to feed that night. Perhaps he was scared he would lose control, Sho mused to himself. Although many times, Kei had sworn that he would never hurt Sho, a darker part of the younger man wanted to push the issue, to push the vampire over the edge and he wasn't at all sure why. He always felt guilty for thinking this way but seeing Kei lying there obviously starving hurt him more than anything. Sho couldn't understand why Kei hated himself so much. Kei had been his guardian when he grew up and now he was his best friend. He had been there for Sho when everyone else abandoned him. He had played such a big part in Sho's life and he had never been asked to. Sho had never asked him to stay that day. Kei had chosen to stay with him. That meant a lot to Sho. It meant more to him than anything else in the world.

Still he couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when his feelings towards Kei had turned to more than just friendship. Over time, Sho had felt himself become drawn to the vampire. At first he thought it was some desperate need to hold onto him when they both knew that Sho didn't need Kei to protect him anymore but lately things had been different. The feelings that Sho had around him were definitely not platonic. He began to find that, should Kei touch him, whether just by brushing passed him or the odd embrace as he used to when Sho was younger, his heart would speed up. So Sho, as much as he desired Kei's touch, flinched away, acted as though Kei's occasional displays of affection irritated him now that he was older but in actual fact he was afraid of where it might lead. Kei might hate him or, even worse, think that Sho pitied him.

This distance that he put between them wasn't good for Kei's psyche and Sho, deep down, wondered if this was the reason for his starvation. He desperately hoped that this wasn't the case.

For about five minutes Sho watched Kei, becoming increasingly aware of the tautness in his muscles and the discontented expression in his eyes. He needed to feed very soon.

Setting down his magazine, Sho broke the uneasy silence with: "Kei? Daijobu?"

Slowly the vampire's gaze turned to him and he titled his head slightly to the side to look Sho straight in the eye. "I'm fine," he answered but Sho caught a flash of his fangs that had unsheathed themselves and the blood on their tips. Kei had bitten his own tongue.

"No. You're not." He snapped in response, jumping up from the sofa. "Damn, Kei, why must you do this to yourself?"

A careful shrug of the shoulders was all he gained in response and this angered Sho further. In two strides he was standing over the cot-bed, grabbing Kei by the shoulders and hauling him into an upright position, shaking him slightly.

"Kei, please." His voice cracked a little when he felt just how cold Kei was to touch. Of course the vampire was not very warm naturally but now he was freezing, another side effect of going without blood for a long time.

"Kei." Sho repeated, suddenly realising just how precarious a position he was in. He was still, somewhat, leaning over the vampire, his jugular clearly in Kei's line of sight. Kei's lips had parted slightly to reveal his fangs and he ran his tongue over them, licking off the drops of blood as his eyes became heavy and unfocused. Then, without warning, he slumped forward into Sho's arms.

Instantly Kei relaxed and Sho uttered a small moan when he felt hot breath on his neck and seconds later Kei's tongue dragged gently across his skin. Sho tilted his head further to one side in encouragement and soon he felt pointed fangs pressing down against his throat.

"Sho." Kei whispered against his skin, "Sho…"

….

"Sho? Sho? You've been staring at me for the passed few minutes, what is wrong with you?"

Sho blinked a couple of times when he saw that Kei had sat up on the cot-bed and was looking at him with an expression that ranged from amused to irritated to concerned all in one look.

"I…" Sho blushed as the realisation hit him. His imagination had run away from him again. It was happening more and more lately when his concern for Kei not feeding overcame him. Sho would begin to imagine/fantasize about Kei feeding off him, drinking his blood. It was sick, Sho tried telling himself, but he couldn't help but want it anyway. No, he wanted Kei, Sho corrected himself. He loved Kei but knew that Kei could never return his feelings. If bringing out the vampire inside of his friend was the only way for Sho to become in anyway intimate with him then he wouldn't mind being bitten, he told himself, as long as Kei could keep a hold of himself that was. Yet Sho hadn't even dared to give this a try and thus it was all left to his imagination.

Kei shook his head in amusement when Sho failed to answer and he stood, but only to stagger slightly as he did so before making his way over to him.

"You need blood." Sho commented, going back to his original line of thought.

"I'm fine."

"No. You're not," Sho answered following his daydream dialogue for a moment before adding, "We have a job in a couple of hours. Promise me you'll feed then."

Kei chuckled and reached out to ruffle Sho's hair, "Don't concern yourself, Sho."

"Why not?" the younger man pouted.

"Because I'm not worth it," Kei answered, leaving the room before Sho had a chance to reply out loud.

_But you are, Kei… you're everything to me…_

* * *

The smell of blood was intoxicating. Somewhere amidst the carnage left by the twin guns that Sho effortlessly fired with a deadly precision each time, a feat taught to him by the vampire, the younger man checked body after body before moving to the office in the back of the room. This left Kei standing in the middle of the warehouse alone with the scent of blood invading his nostrils and making him weak at the knees.

Still he stood there, not moving. His guilt at being the monster that he was kept him from giving into the vampire's instinct, which was screaming at him to feed. Kami-sama knew he needed too. The fight had taken a lot out of him for Sho, as talented as he was with firearms, still needed back up. Toshi left Kei and Sho to collect the money from those who did not eat his pizza; that was how it had always worked.

The warehouse was more or less silent now. The only sounds that could be heard was Sho's footsteps and movement as he looked through the office and then, after a few minutes, he came back out with a wad of cash.

"Not a lot at all really," he commented whilst flipping one of his braids over his shoulder. He had grown his hair long when he was sixteen, Kei recalled fondly, and he smiled at this recollection. If there was one good thing that had ever come out of his curse it was that it had given him the chance to meet and care for Sho. The small boy who had saved him from burning to death, and then in turn whom Kei had saved from the Chinese thug, had grown into a young man with his whole life ahead of him, a life that Sho made clear that he still wanted Kei to be a part of.

Sho was also a very attractive young man now. Kei had long since noted this but kept himself cool and detached for it was easier than admitting to himself that he wanted Sho, that he was attracted to Sho, hells he even loved Sho but that was one path that he had sworn he would never walk down. It could never be. Sho would die and leave Kei behind. It was a cruel part of Kei's existence and one that constantly brought him pain. Starving himself made things worse but nowadays he just couldn't bring himself to feed unless forced. It was an endless cycle and one that pained both of them.

"Have you fed?" came Sho's expected question, although he already knew the answer.

"No."

"You promised." His expression faltered enough for Kei to see the crushed expression behind his eyes before he looked away angrily, "Damn it, Kei!"

"I'm not…" Kei started but trailed off when Sho grabbed hold of the nearest unconscious Chinese gang member and all but thrust him at Kei.

"Feed." He commanded.

Kei looked down at the unconscious man with misgivings and when he looked back up again, Sho had moved away.

"I'm going to wait in the car as there's nothing much else here." He called over his shoulder, "Don't come out until you've fed."

After he'd gone, Kei let the man fall to the floor. The dull thud echoed loudly round the warehouse. He shook with a combination of anger and frustration as his fangs unsheathed themselves. He wanted to feed but at the same time he felt as though he couldn't, not with Sho waiting outside for him. The monster inside of Kei was ever present but, for now at least, Kei's humanity overcame it. He couldn't eat. He just couldn't bring himself to end another life this way, even if the man did deserve such a fate. Kei's heart clenched at the thought of all the lives he had taken. Did any of them truly deserve it?

Before, the depression had been fleeting; a few days and it was lifted by either his own determination or Sho's concern for him. Lately, however, Kei had been feeling it more and more and he just couldn't shake off his thoughts of self-loathing.

Don't come out until you've eaten 

Sho's words, almost a plea now, echoed in Kei's mind. He hated hurting Sho like this but he just couldn't force himself to feed. He couldn't shut off the emotions that were flooding him.

Turning away, Kei slowly made his way out of the warehouse and to the waiting car. Silently he slipped into the passenger seat. He could hide nothing from Sho, who looked at him with an agonising expression on his face.

"Kei---" he began quietly.

"I can't." Kei replied, shivering at the sudden weakness in his limbs. The fatigue came in waves and after a few moments it was passed.

"Kei, please."

Sho looked frightened now. Neither of them knew what would happen if Kei didn't feed. He couldn't die, that much he was certain of. He would continue to get weaker and weaker but any other side effects remained a mystery. A part of Kei had hoped for death but he knew deep down that starving himself would not grant him his wish.

"I can't." He repeated and Sho did not press the issue.

He wordlessly put the car into drive and they sped away down the dark street doing well over the speed limit. Sho tended to drive fast when he was angry.

Kei, for his part, felt too exhausted and hungry to care. He closed his eyes as another wave of dizziness washed over him.

He must have drifted off, for they were back in their part of the city when he next became aware of his surroundings. The car radio blared out angrily, another sign that Sho was upset, as they drove through the streets. Sho's hands that gripped the steering wheel were white and his concentration was poor. He took out the three trashcans outside the Happy Pizza outlet, where Toshi worked, just parking up. Sho switched the engine off and roughly tore the keys from the ignition. The car door was slammed loudly behind him as he got out and the car itself rocked slightly. Kei did not get out. This part of the evening was always the same. Toshi would come out and they would discretely divide the money between them. It was how it always worked.

True to this, Toshi approached, waving his hands at the toppled trashcans and complaining to Sho about his driving skills, or lack of.

"You shouldn't put them so close to the road." Sho retorted to this. "Baka." Was added as an after thought.

Toshi sighed, knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere and hurriedly picked them back up before his Boss could see what Sho had done.

"There wasn't much tonight." Sho began speaking in a lower voice but Kei, with a little concentration, could hear them perfectly. "It almost wasn't worth the cost of the ammo."

Toshi rolled his eyes. "You can't expect a lot every night. They're getting wise to us now. You really need to be more careful."

"So do you. Some of them were still awake!"

"Why are you so tetchy this evening? We got through it alive, didn't we?"

"No reason." Sho lit a cigarette and, grudgingly, offered the packet to his friend. "How much did you get?"

"Same as you. Even with the three way split it shouldn't be too bad."

"Good. Our landlord's been on our case for the rent for the past few days."

Toshi made no comment to this and they divided the cash hurriedly between them. The younger man moved nearer the car and tossed Kei a rolled up bundle of notes. Kei reached up to catch it but his reflexes were slow and he missed. The bundle bounced off the driver's seat and onto the floor.

"Sorry, Kei." Toshi apologised as the vampire leaned down to retrieve it. He knew that the miss would not go unnoticed, especially by Sho.

"It's okay." He replied as he grabbed the notes and stowed them away in the dashboard.

Sho gave Kei a look that ranged halfway between concerned and annoyed but Kei dismissed it. Toshi sensed some tension between the two of them but wisely kept out of it.

"Hey." He said, trying to make light of things, and just thinking of a way to do that. "Are we still meeting Son and Yi-Che tomorrow?"

Tomorrow… Kei mentally winced at this. Tomorrow they were supposed to be meeting their Taiwanese friends and hanging out for the evening. Sho had mentioned something about going to see a movie and that Yi-Che wanted to cook them dinner. Although they both knew about Kei, Kei always felt awkward with the group and thus had hung back a lot of the time. Yi-Che, also, felt a little isolated and so they often stood together and watched the antics of the others. Sho, Kei was well aware, had a crush on Yi-Che for he did not like Kei spending too much time with her. Of course, he had not come out and said it but Kei could tell in the way that Sho looked at them. There was envy in his gaze and a certain degree of jealousy. His feelings, however, were misguided. Kei had no interest in Yi-Che for his un-dead heart had always belonged to Sho.

"Yeah tomorrow's still good." Sho confirmed, and Toshi brightened.

"So I guess I'll see you then."

"Sure. I'll pick up around eight."

"Thanks. That'll be fine."

"Take care." Sho's laid-back and detached voice softened slightly as they said their goodbyes for the night.

"Just try not to kill any more trashcans on your way home." Toshi called cheerfully over his shoulder as he made his way back inside.

Sho laughed, but the jovial look on his face soon faded as he got back into the car. However, he did not say anything and the drive home was silent. They held no other conversation between them.

* * *

Sho felt as though he was at breaking point when they arrived back home. Kei retired to his cot-bed; sleep overcoming him almost as soon as he lay down.

_"Kei---" _

_"I can't." _

_"Kei, please."_

_"I can't."_

Sho didn't understand Kei's reason for this continued starvation. He had gone without blood before but this was too long. He couldn't carry on indefinitely, Sho knew. Tonight had been a good indication of this. He had summoned the strength to carry out the job but in the aftermath he could barely move. It was tearing Sho apart to watch this and there was nothing he could say that would force Kei to feed.

He hovered over the sleeping form of the vampire for a few minutes, taking in Kei's delicate and pale features in a sombre silence. If anything happened to him… Sho's heart clenched at such a thought.

Quietly, he went over to sit on the sofa and light a cigarette. Then, depositing the wad of cash from tonight's heist onto the low coffee table, Sho let out a soft sigh. They had the money for the rent but there were other bills to pay. With the Chinese gangs beginning to get wise to their activities, they carried out jobs with twice as many guards and used cash less and less. Yet it wasn't just the money. If the jobs dried up then Kei would be forced to hunt and Sho knew better than anyone how much Kei hated that.

But Kei didn't even feed from the jobs anymore, Sho reminded himself. Tonight had been only the latest refusal. Still the tiredness in Kei's eyes haunted Sho. It was almost as though he were giving up on life. Perhaps that was it? Perhaps Kei had, had enough as Luka had done? Would Sho one day wake and find Kei gone?

A low whimper from the cot-bed drew Sho's attention back to Kei himself. The vampire was tensing up; a sign that again the nightmarish scene of Luka's death was reliving itself in his tired mind. Sho had never asked what Luka was to Kei but he could guess; a mentor, a confidant and… a lover… Luka had been everything to Kei as Kei was to Sho and even after all these years, Kei still mourned his death.

Knowing better than to wake him, Sho stubbed out his cigarette and went into their little kitchen so that he didn't have to listen to Kei's soft cries. This act, to an outsider, would have seemed cold but for Sho to live with Kei as he was now, it was heartbreaking.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: An evening out**

_(Two days earlier)_

The radio hummed gently in the background, adding to the serene state of mind of a man who had just taken his daily hit.

Shinji sat half slumped against the wall, his drug-soaked brain only just able to allow him semi-coherent thought as the glass slid from his hand to shatter on the floor. The sound was muffled, failing to break through his tranquil paradise. There were other sounds, too. He could hear his colleague scolding him and the buzz of the aquariums, the filters working as normal and the sound of the traffic below him. Shinji always came up onto the roof to get high. There was something appealing about taking his drugs in potentially what could be a lethal situation should he stumble too close to the edge. However, his road to self-destruct was coming to a swift end. Shinji's debt was mounting up and dimly he was aware of angry voices in the room behind the balcony and, as anticipated, seconds later two of Chan's goons burst out onto the roof.

The first one was tall and was wearing a tie-dyed tight shirt and a pair of torn jeans. Multiple scars on his arms and face were clearly visible and an ugly gash ran from the top of his cheek, breaking only at his left eye, to run into his hairline. His hair was greasy and black. It was cut short and slicked back with gel.

The second one was shorter and was possibly one of Chan's newest recruits for he bared none of the same scaring as the first. He was dressed in similar clothes, although his shirt was long-sleeved. His hair was dark brown and was cut just above his ears. His face was narrow and his eyes blue-green, suggesting his Gaijin origin. This would have surprised Shinji a few weeks ago but it was common knowledge now that Chan was recruiting all foreigners who were prepared to listen to him. It was part of his scheme to dominate the City and Shinji was well aware that the Japanese gangs didn't like it one bit.

The taller one grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and hauled him to his feet, whilst the other knocked the remains of his using from the small table and onto the floor whilst swearing in Mandarin.

Shinji was not in the state of mind to be afraid by these actions and allowed a lazy smile to spread across his face.

"You're late with your payment." The taller one snarled, shaking him for good measure. "Again."

"Ah…" Shinji nodded, barely understanding these words. "Well… things have been a little slow around here lately and--"

"We've taken what's in the till." The other one snapped impatiently. "But Xiong wants the rest. Tonight."

Xiong was Chan's right hand man and the very mention of him would have struck fear into Shinji's heart, had be been clean.

"Screw Xiong. I'm broke." He swore in Japanese. The men, only vaguely understanding him, were angered by his lack of respect and seconds later a fist connected with Shinji's lower jaw.

They released him as he was hit and he went sprawling back onto the ground. This pain did register, although he was unable to follow the movement of the men above him. A second blow followed the first, this one aimed at his stomach. Gasping, Shinji curled into himself; coughing painfully as a third kick caught him in the chest.

"That's just a warning." The shorter one snarled. "If you don't have the money then Xiong will do a lot worse to you."

"Tonight." The taller one landed one last kick to his stomach before the door clattered, indicating that they had left him alone.

Shinji sighed painfully, feeling unable to move just yet. Their ultimatum should have frightened him but right now his drug high was blotting out any fear and, for this, he was grateful. He wasn't sure how long he was lying there until he heard the balcony door open again.

"Nii-chan!"

Shinji had expected his co-worker to come out and give him grief over the loss of takings but he wasn't altogether surprised to see Sho either. His younger brother was always coming to see him, mainly to plead with him to let Sho help him with his addiction. Addiction… Shinji didn't like that word. It seemed dirty and somewhat inappropriate. Escapism was what he sought and drugs gave it to him. If he were given a true reason for living in this world then he was sure that he could find it within himself to give up. As it was he couldn't so he continued. Shinji wasn't stupid, despite what Sho thought. He knew that the drugs could very well kill him but death would be a release and Shinji secretly longed for it. He felt as though he had nothing. When he was growing up he had envisioned that he and Sho would run the City by the time they were in their twenties. This might have been an unreachable dream but it had been something for them both to hold onto whilst living in the gutter.

Then Kei had come into their lives.

Shinji's lip curled slightly at the thought of Kei. Even if Kei hadn't have been a vampire, he probably still would have hated him for Kei had taken Sho away from him. Kei had been the brother to Sho that Shinji never could be. Kei could protect Sho, could look out for him and Sho had clung to the vampire, even as a young boy. He had looked up to Kei whilst growing up and it had been Kei whom Sho had gone to every time he needed advice or help. Shinji had been made to feel useless, cast aside and that was what had sparked his drug using.

Of course now that they were older, Shinji had hoped that Sho's feelings towards Kei might change, that he might see Kei for the monster that he really was. This, however, had not happened and instead they had become closer still. Sho had even chosen to live with Kei rather than Shinji and this had hurt him deeply, even if he hadn't outwardly displayed any signs of it having done so.

Kei's feelings for Sho, however, had changed. Shinji had seen the way that the vampire occasionally looked at Sho. He wasn't exactly sure what he was seeing in Kei's eyes, but it certainly went beyond brotherly affection.

"Nii-chan!" He was drawn from his thoughts when Sho knelt down at his side and tentatively reached out to touch his shoulder.

"Get off." Shinji growled, making a half-hearted attempt to brush him away. "I'm fine."

Speaking in this rough tone caused him to cough again. Tasting blood from his jaw in his mouth, Shinji grimaced and spat, a sticky trail of salvia and blood dribbling down his chin as he sat up.

"You don't look fine. Have you been using again?"

"What do you think?"

"That you're in trouble. I saw Chan's men leaving. Why did you get mixed up with them, Nii-chan?"

"The return is good." Shinji replied wearily; they had been having this conversation time and time before and he was growing tired of it.

A few months ago he had first struck a deal with Chan's men. Buying from them was less risky than buying the shit that the Japanese gangs sold. Chan knew where to get the good stuff, although it carried a hefty price tag. Up until a few weeks ago, Shinji had been able to keep up with the payments but, he hadn't been lying, and business at the store had been slow. He was too proud to ask Sho for help and had begun bargaining with Chan instead. Chan had supplied him with drugs to sell on to pay off his debt but Shinji had started to get withdrawal and had taken some for himself. Of course he had not been able to account for the missing stash or pay for it so Chan grew impatient. He had been expecting today's visit for a while now, although he hadn't realised that things were this serious.

"Screw the return." Sho was saying now, clearly angered by Shinji's dealings. "You could get yourself into serious trouble."

"I know what I'm doing." Shinji growled. "Now did you just come to bitch to me about my affairs that do not concern you in the slightest, or did you actually want something?"

Sho looked so hurt at this that Shinji almost felt guilty. Almost.

"We're going out tonight, the entire gang that is. I wondered if you were perhaps going to be in a fit state to join us?"

This was unexpected, especially after his harsh words and Shinji frowned, squinting up at Sho in disbelief. "Why?"

"Because I'm worried about you. All you do is sit up here getting high."

"Perhaps I _like _getting high."

"Perhaps." Sho allowed softly, "But you don't."

This hit a nerve and Shinji choked down a sharp retort and said instead: "The whole gang?"

"Yeah."

"Including the monster?"

"Don't call him that. If you actually bothered to get to know him, you'd see that he's nothing of the kind." Sho looked genuinely hurt and Shinji relented slightly.

"Fine, count me in."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Shinji grumbled, not really realising what he was saying. At this moment he would say _anything _to get rid of Sho for his younger brother was stubbornly chipping away at his drug-induced euphoria and Shinji didn't like it one bit.

His ploy appeared to have worked and Sho, looking satisfied, stated that he would be by to pick Shinji up just after eight. Shinji nodded, not really having much sense to say anything else and he was simply keen on getting Sho to leave at this point. The concern that his younger brother displayed was irritating at times and Shinji also hated to be pitied. Especially by Sho.

"I'll see you tonight then." Sho prompted him.

"Fine." Shinji waved him away with a hand.

"Take care, Nii-chan." Was his soft reply but Shinji didn't bother to answer him.

* * *

When Kei woke it was dark. His body clock habitually woke him just ask the sun was going down but lately, because of his lack of blood, he had sometimes been sleeping well into the night. Despite what Sho thought, Kei didn't need blood to survive; he needed it to be strong and, provided he rested, he could do without it, although he was dangerously weak. The craving was ever present but Kei chose to ignore it as he sat up. His clothes were soaked with sweat, a product of reliving Luka's death over and over in his dreams, he thought bitterly, as were the near dried tears on his cheeks.

He could hear Sho moving around in the kitchen so Kei got up quietly and padded the short distance down the hall to the bathroom. He felt a little stronger this evening and, heartened at the prospect of going out and doing something other than killing, Kei felt his sombre mood quickly lifting.

He shut the bathroom door behind him with a click that did not go unnoticed by his companion.

"Kei?" Sho's voice echoed from further down the hall, tinged with concern. "Are you okay?"

"Fine… just taking a shower." Kei replied; his voice stronger than it had been yesterday.

Satisfied at this, Sho moved further away again and back into the kitchen.

Kei discarded the clothes he was wearing in the linen basket and showered quickly, knowing that Sho would want to leave to pick up Toshi soon. Normally, Kei liked to have a bath afterwards, but today there wouldn't be time.

He hurried and as he stepped out of the cubicle, he could already hear Sho calling him. Kei sighed and dried himself off. He wrapped the towel round his waist and exited the bathroom. As he went into his bedroom, Kei caught sight of Sho coming out of the kitchen again. He seemed apprehensive but Kei didn't read too much into this; he assumed that Sho was merely worrying about him again.

He selected his favourite red tank top and baggy black trousers to wear and then slung his red jacket over his shoulders. It was a warm night but due to his lack of feeding, Kei felt even the tiniest chill in the air.

"Kei?" Sho called from outside his door and then the door swung open; Sho was never one to knock.

His blue eyes were, for once, full of seriousness, and he came to a stop just in front of the petit vampire, studying him carefully before continuing. "Are you sure you're okay? If you don't feel up to tonight then you don't have to come…"

"I'm fine." Kei reiterated. Evidently his early words of reassurance hadn't been enough as he had assumed.

"Really?"

"Really." Kei reached out to touch Sho's arm in a bid to offer further reassurance but the younger man discreetly shied away from this gesture. He had been like that for a while now, Kei had noted, always moving away. Of course guys rarely even embraced but when Sho was growing up and all through his teenage years it had been the norm between them and Kei didn't know quite what to make of this sudden change in attitude.

"Kei." Sho now appeared apprehensive, a lot more so than before. "I saw Nii-chan today. He's not doing so great so I invited him, too. I thought… I thought if he saw that there were other more important things than getting high then it might get through to him."

Kei inwardly groaned at this. As far as human beings went, Shinji wasn't the nastiest that Kei had ever met but he was certainly one of the only ones who could invoke such dislike inside of him. It was very hard to believe that Shinji and Sho were brothers for, in Kei's eyes, they couldn't be more different and the very idea of spending an evening with Shinji and putting up with his snide remarks when Sho wasn't listening was almost nauseating.

However, no matter what Kei's feelings for Shinji, he was still Sho's brother and was important to him and thus Kei put up with him.

"It's okay isn't it?" Sho prompted, well aware of their mutual distaste for each other.

"Of course." Kei answered, nodding at the same as though to doubly confirm this to Sho.

"Thanks." Sho brightened again. "If you're ready then shall we go? I said to Toshi that I'd pick him up at around eight. He'll get mad if we're not on time."

Without waiting for a reply, Sho turned round and hurried towards the door. Kei smiled, a genuine smile, and moved quickly after him. Even with Shinji tagging along, he was still looking forward to tonight.

* * *

The ride to Son and Yi-Che's house was fairly uneventful. Sho had sensibly suggested that Shinji sit in the passenger seat and that had left Kei and Toshi with the backseats. This was fine by Kei and most of the talking was done by the pizza delivery boy anyway.

When they arrived at the house, Son greeted them, explaining that Yi-Che was still 'slaving away' in the kitchen.

The apartment that the two of them lived in was a little more spacious than Kei and Sho's own. It had the same number of bedrooms but a small study as well. The front room doubled up as a dining room and Kei noted that a place at the table had also been set for him. It was a kind gesture on Yi-Che's part despite them all knowing that he wouldn't be joining them.

The others immediately parked themselves in front of the television. Toshi, Sho and Son sat on the royal blue sofa whilst Shinji claimed possession of one of the armchairs. Kei hung back; content to listen in amusement to their conversation.

"Hey Sho." Toshi said after a few minutes, a hint of mischievousness entering his voice. "Have you ever thought of becoming a racing driver?" He nodded to the motor racing that was currently on the television.

"No." Sho frowned, missing the intended humour. "Why?"

"Well you drive just like them and you're always crashing into things."

"Oi!" Sho pouted and reached over to get his friend in a headlock.

"Argh! Sho!" Toshi flailed about, narrowly missing hitting Son in the face with a hand. The Taiwanese laughed as Toshi finally managed to work himself free and said:

"Don't take it so offensively, Sho. Driving a racing car actually requires a lot of skill, quite the opposite from what Toshi was saying."

"He's right!" Toshi agreed, nodding vigorously. "We've finally found something you're good at! You could make a lot of money!"

"What do you mean by 'finally'?" Sho rounded on Toshi, although it was all intended in good nature.

"Yeah don't be so hard on him." Shinji spoke up from his chair, his voice tinged with an underlying bitterness and Kei could tell that he wanted to make trouble. "Sho could do anything he wants to… if it weren't for certain obligations holding him back."

Kei knew what Shinji meant by 'certain obligations' but he chose wisely not to act upon it.

An awkward silence ensured and the vampire deemed it best if he simply removed himself from the situation.

Explaining that he was going to see if Yi-Che needed a hand, he only caught part of the conversation that followed. Sho was rounding on Shinji and Toshi was trying to diffuse the situation by making out that he hadn't understood what Shinji was implying.

"Of course Sho can't go off and be a famous racing driver. If he did, what would happen to us? We still need Sho to bail us out of trouble all the time!"

Ignoring the words that followed, Kei went into the kitchen.

Yi-Che was a pretty girl; he had noted this from the moment he had first laid eyes on her that evening in the park. However, all too often her face was marred by a sadness that was only truly lifted when she was painting. Her smile could light up her face were it only given more of a chance to. Of course, Yi-Che had, had much pain in her life and Kei sometimes marvelled at how well she had dealt with it considering.

Kei knew that Yi-Che had a crush on him and that his coming to help her would only fuel that crush and irritate Sho who had feelings for her, but Kei had thought it best so he cleared his throat and made his presence behind her known.

Yi-Che gasped for she had not heard him come into the kitchen. The china plate that she was holding slipped from her grasp as she whirled around and would have fallen on the floor had Kei not caught it.

He was slower than normal, although to a human he would have moved as no more than a blur, and the plate almost hit the floor but his fingers closed around it just in time.

Yi-Che had never seen any display of the abilities that his curse granted him, but she wasn't easily fazed and she gave him a shy smile and dipped her head in a silent 'thank you' as Kei handed the plate back to her.

"I'm sorry." He apologised in Mandarin, feeling bad for having frightened her. "I wondered if you needed a hand in here, that's all?"

She smiled gratefully and nodded to the rice that she had been stirring. He stepped up and took the spoon that she offered him and began stirring the rice. He hadn't prepared food in a long time. Occasionally he had cooked for Sho and Toshi when they were growing up but mostly they managed to look after themselves in that area. Even when he was human, Kei had rarely prepared a meal.

They worked in silence but it was not uncomfortably so. Kei found that he kept having to check with her whether the rice was ready and when it was he helped her serve it onto the plates.

Yi-Che had prepared a curry and the table was set in Western style, with knives and forks rather than chopsticks. Kei helped her to carry the plates into the front room and set them down on the table. She then gestured to the boys that they could come over and sit down.

Sho must have alerted Son that Shinji would be joining them, as the right number of places had been set. Kei found himself sitting with Yi-Che on his left and Sho on his right. Shinji was the other side of Sho and then Toshi and Son was the other side of Yi-Che.

Shinji's snide remarks of before had been forgotten as the others started to eat. Kei helped himself to a glass of water from the pitcher in the middle of the table. He felt a little left out as they all complimented Yi-Che on her cooking and the conversation stayed on the topic of food for a while.

"This certainly makes a change from the takeout that Toshi usually brings." Sho was saying, teasing his friend a little.

"What's wrong with my pizza?" Toshi challenged in reply, but knowing it was all in good humour.

"Well for one thing you usually pick up the drugged ones by mistake and then we all go hungry!"

Kei smiled, amused by this banter but also sensing Yi-Che's eyes on him still. She was obviously concerned that he was not joining in and Kei winced; the last thing he wanted was for attention to be drawn to him again.

"Does Yi-Che cook for you every night?" Kei asked Son, trying to make conversation now.

"Most nights." Son replied to this. "She's learned a lot of different recipes from all round the world. She's a great cook as well as a great artist."

"She is." Sho had finished riling Toshi and caught onto Kei and Son's discussion instead. "We should come and eat round here more often."

Yi-Che smiled and nodded, indicating that she would like that very much.

Very soon everyone had finished eating and Kei helped Yi-Che clear the plates away. The only one who hadn't eaten, apart from Kei, was Shinji. Kei suspected that his lack of appetite was a side effect from his drug abuse combined with simple bloody-mindedness. Shinji could be making a point for all Kei knew and this annoyed him if this was the case; after all he was only going to upset Yi-Che who had done nothing to him at all.

Kei still wasn't feeling very social and so he volunteered to clean the dishes away. Evidently Sho was keen to impress Yi-Che and he decided to help, too. Toshi smirked and elbowed him in the side when Yi-Che silently thanked him and went to join the others in the front room. Sho looked annoyed and went to swat Toshi over the head but his friend quickly moved away laughing.

Sho claimed the washing and left Kei to dry up the utensils. They were quiet for a few minutes and then Sho broke the silence between them as asked again if Kei was feeling all right.

"Fine." Kei assured him, although in reality fatigue was beginning to creep up on him again.

"We thought we'd give that movie a miss." Sho then said, far from happy but not as determined to push Kei on the subject as he was before. "Son wants to go for a drive instead."

Kei shrugged, stating that he was indifferent to the change of plan. He actually preferred the idea of going for a drive but he wasn't about to voice this preference.

Again silence followed this until Sho scooped up a handful of bubbles from the washing up and threw them in Kei's face.

"Oi!" Kei complained as he tried to brush the bubbles out of his hair with one hand whilst reaching over to retaliate with his own handful of soapy water.

Sho jumped backwards in a bid to avoid this onslaught and laughed when Kei's aim fell short and bubbles landed on the floor. "You missed." He declared, "But for even the attempt, I'm going to have to make you pay."

Kei chuckled as Sho lunged forward to tackle him but he slipped on the wet floor. Sho yelled out in surprise his legs slipped from under him but at the last minute he caught hold of Kei's jacket and pulled the vampire down with him.

Sho landed on his back and Kei sprawled halfway on top of him. Immediately pushing himself up, Kei was concerned for Sho but he needn't have been. Sho laughed and propped himself up on is elbows. For a brief moment Kei was so tempted to lean forward and close the small gap between them and to press a kiss to Sho's lips. This urge was so strong that Kei really had to fight with himself and, after a few moments, he managed to move away.

Acting as though nothing had happened, Kei scooped up some of the fallen bubbles and rubbed them into Sho's hair before returning to the washing up. The younger man complained at this but Kei only smirked as he watched Sho trying to brush them out of his fringe. Kei's smirk softened at this action and their eyes met, Sho's own irritated look turning confused and searching.

"Hey guys?" Son suddenly appeared in the doorway, dispelling any awkwardness soon enough. "Are you done yet?"

Sho shook his head. "Not really."

Son smiled at the mess and then shrugged, "Why don't we leave it until we get back?"

"Okay." Sho agreed before snatching the tea towel from Kei to dry his hands on. The moment between them was all but lost and, for this, Kei was glad. Had he done anything then he knew that Sho would have probably never forgiven him and he didn't want to risk their friendship for unrequited affections.

Putting all such feelings to the back of his mind, Kei followed his friends from the room.

* * *

Kei knew where they were heading well before they reached their destination. He knew as soon as they reached the edge of Mallepa and left the busy city behind. He was sandwiched in the back of the car between Toshi and Shinji; Yi-Che and Son were rather crushed in sharing the passenger seat beside Sho. Shinji had remained silent whilst Toshi, Son and Sho talked rather animatedly. Kei, too, had been quiet. He was starting to wish that he had gone home. He had never gone this long without a feed before and his body temperature had plummeted since they had started their drive. He was shivering and had pulled his jacket tighter around his body, trying to retain some heat even though the night was warm. The curious thing was that he didn't even feel hungry now; just exhausted. His eyes were drifting closed and it was only by sheer willpower that he had kept himself awake for as long as he had done.

Although he must have given into sleep at some point for when he awoke they had arrived at their destination; the ocean.

For Kei, visiting the beach always brought about mixed emotions. It caused him pain because it was here that he and Luka had shared their final moments together but also he felt some happiness for he had also shared a lot of good times with Sho and his friends and Luka, too. In fact, the first time he had ever been to the beach was with Luka back when he was still human.

Sho knew the details of Luka's death; the nightmares hadn't been something that Kei was able to hide for too long, but he somehow knew that going to the beach did not cause Kei any more pain than he was already feeling. Even after all his time, he still missed Luka terribly.

They parked on the sand and they all got out of the car. Yi-Che and Shinji hung back with Kei as Toshi produced a Frisbee from the boot of the car and then Son coaxed Yi-Che to join them a little further down the beach as they started their game.

"Nii-chan? Kei?" Sho called but Shinji only scowled at him and lit a cigarette, feeling the effects of withdrawal no doubt.

Kei shook his head in disgust and Sho took this to also be a decline and went back to his game. For a few minutes, the two remaining stood in silence, Kei leaning back against the car slightly as he fought off the fatigue that was creeping up on him again.

"He doesn't need you, you know." Shinji muttered, breaking the quiet between them. "He only lets you stay out of pity."

Kei sighed wearily at Shinji's attempt to rile him. He had heard it all before from the younger man. When Shinji wasn't high he was speaking these nasty little comments. Over the years, Kei had learned not to let them get to him but tonight he felt almost fragile and they penetrated deeper than they would normally. He had contemplated it more than once, that Sho pitied him. Kei knew that Sho pitied what he was and his lonely existence, but did he only make Kei feel wanted out of a sense of obligation? Kei had wondered from time to time. Despite his protests to the contrary, Sho was a very compassionate person, deep down, and perhaps he did feel in some sort of debt to Kei? The vampire desperately hoped that this wasn't the case for Sho was his everything. Without Sho he had nothing and Shinji knew it.

"You should do us all a favour and just clear off." Shinji continued to needle him. "We don't need you."

Kei snorted haughtily to this and shook his head. "If I leave then who will watch his back? You?"

"Yes. Me" Shinji answered quietly and without thinking. "I'm his brother."

"And a lot of use you are to him, too. You're usually so doped up on drugs that you can hardly stand. Sho and the others would be dead within hours with you _watching his back_." Kei had sworn he wouldn't rise to the bait but he couldn't help but fire back a retort to this. The lack of blood always made him tetchy and this evening was by no means the exception.

"Fuck you, Kei." Shinji eloquently replied, throwing down his cigarette and, surprising them both, by reaching out and grabbing hold of Kei's arm. Usually, Kei could twist free but right now he doubted that he had the strength.

"Leave Sho alone." Shinji threatened in a low voice. "You'll only end up hurting him."

He dug his fingers painfully into Kei's arm to accentuate his point, some merriment in his eyes as he assumed that he had one up on the ailing vampire.

This irritated Kei and he, against his better judgement, made eye contact with the younger man, as he said: "Let. Me. Go." After speaking, Kei let his mouth hang open ever so slightly so that Shinji could see his fangs that had fully unsheathed themselves, reacting to Kei's anger.

Shinji, as anticipated, was quick to release him. He had never seen Kei's fangs before and, as Kei knew would happen, he was scared into backing off.

"Monster." He hissed under his breath as he moved away, placing a good few metres between them. Kei only smirked at this.

They held an uneasy gaze between them until Sho broke through that by calling out: "Kei! Catch!" The vampire looked round to see the Frisbee sailing through the air towards him.

Recalling Sho's concern for him, Kei pushed away from the car and easily caught the blue disk in mid-flight and tossed it back in Sho's direction.

"Ow!" The younger man complained as the disk hit him in the stomach and he doubled over, grimacing a little in pain. "You don't have to use your strength you know!"

"I didn't." Kei called, the heaviness on his heart lifting momentarily. "That was a normal throw."

Son and Toshi burst into laughter at this whilst Sho only scowled. Even Yi-Che smiled at this.

"Why don't you join in then?" Sho recovered himself a few seconds later and asked.

"Okay." The vampire surprised them all by agreeing but as he moved to follow them back down the beach, it was suddenly as though the ground had been snatched from under him.

Kei let out a small gasp as the weakness in his limbs caused his legs to give out completely and he crashed to his knees, struggling against the relentless tide of dizziness that overcame him.

Kei knew that he was shaking and his fingers dug into the sand as though trying to grasp hold of something, anything to keep him from succumbing to it. He drew a racking breath but this ended in a hiss as his fangs dropped again without him consciously willing it.

"Kei!" He scented the human beside him and his head shot up, his neck arching backwards as his eyes opened wide with a combination of pain and starvation. His stomach began to knot up painfully as his severely weakened body began to fail him. Kei reached out and grasped Sho's shoulders, his fingernails digging into the young man's flesh until blood was drawn. Yet Sho did not flinch away. He steadied the vampire as Kei continued to convulse and hiss until dark spots began to blot his vision.

All he could feel was some momentarily relief as well as fear before he was falling limply into Sho's arms and unconsciousness stole him away.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Mistakes**

(_Two days earlier)_

For Sho, it was as though one of his worst nightmares was playing out right before his eyes. He held onto Kei, unsure of what else to do whilst struggling to remain calm when, inwardly, he was feeling anything but.

Kei's eyes were wide with agony and he strained so much against his internal pain that Sho was terrified that he might do himself further damage. He hissed and writhed in Sho's grasp and all the younger man could do was hold him whilst ignoring the panicked cries of his friends. The sounds that Kei was making were far from human and it was almost a relief for Sho when Kei slumped into his arms and went still.

Exhaling the breath that Sho didn't realise that he was holding he cradled Kei to him, almost as though he were afraid to let him go.

Just what the hell had happened? Sho knew it had to be one of the side effects from Kei going without blood but what did it mean? Was he… was he dying? This thought almost caused tears to spring into Sho's eyes and he remained still, holding on tightly to Kei's limp form until the others approached him.

"Sho?" Toshi broke the silence between them. "What happened?"

"I… I don't know." Sho turned his head to look up at his friend. "He… he hasn't been feeding." He admitted quietly.

"How long for?"

"A couple of weeks."

"We need to get him home." Toshi, being uncharacteristically serious, took charge.

Sho nodded and pulled Kei to his chest as he stood, paying no attention to the deep scratches on his shoulders. He walked swiftly back to the car and deposited Kei on the back seat.

"Can you get yourselves home?" He asked of Son and Yi-Che.

"Of course." Son replied softly. "Will he be okay?"

Sho couldn't help but feel some jealousy when Yi-Che bent over Kei and gently stroked his cheek.

"Yeah he'll be fine." He answered, saying this to convince himself more than his friends.

"Call us." Son requested as the two of them hurriedly started to leave the beach. Sho agreed that he would and then got into the car. Toshi sat in the back with Kei and Shinji climbed into the front. Sho's brother hadn't said a word since Kei collapsed and almost had a guilty look on his face, although this was quickly disguised when Sho turned to him.

"I'll drop you home first."

Shinji shrugged, seemingly uncaring and Sho almost felt like rounding on him but he knew that this would serve no purpose. Looking after Kei was much more important.

However, when he put the car into gear, Shinji broke his silence and spoke. "Why are you doing this, Sho?"

"Doing what?" Sho feigned innocence when in reality he knew exactly what Shinji meant.

"Helping him. Why not leave him on the beach until the sun claims him?"

Sho was appalled by the venom in his brother's voice and had to concentrate very hard on keeping his temper.

"Kei saved our lives." Toshi came to the vampire's defence quickly before Sho could say anything that he might regret. "You should be grateful to him."

"Grateful?" Shinji snorted with his usual contempt. "To him? Why should I? He'll turn on us as soon as he wakes."

"Why do you say that?" Toshi asked, his voice suddenly going quiet and unreadable.

"Think about it." Shinji shrugged, "He hasn't fed and collapsed. He'll wake and go into a frenzy, killing the first person he sees. Do either of you want to be that person?"

"He wouldn't." Toshi replied immediately although Sho could hear a tremor of doubt in his voice and he, too, found himself wondering what exactly would happen when Kei woke.

Sho shuddered as he recalled the pained expression on Kei's face. Kei wouldn't hurt them that he knew with unwavering certainty. Kei would _never_ hurt them but what would happen? Would he be maddened by hunger or perhaps he was passed that point now? Maybe he really was dying?

Not wanting to think such thoughts, Sho said no more on the subject. The roads were pretty clear this time of night and they reached Shinji's apartment block quicker than he thought that they would.

However, when they got closer, Sho saw four guys hanging around outside. He frowned, wondering if they were just teenagers, but as they got closer, Sho saw that they were better dressed than the small time gangs and that they were armed.

"Nii-chan? What's going on?" Sho asked, noticing how uncomfortable Shinji had suddenly become.

A shout went up from the men before Shinji could reply.

The men drew their guns and, without any warning, they began to fire. Sho immediately did a U-turn in the road but was distracted from the road when a bullet whizzed passed his head to shatter the windscreen. Glancing in the mirror, he saw that Toshi had already ducked down flat on the backseat, pulling Kei down with him. Shinji had flattened himself against the passenger seat, his eyes wide with fear but no shock. He had been expecting them.

Recovering himself, Sho struggled to put the car into a higher gear for escape but he accidentally knocked it back into neutral and it stalled.

"Sho!" Toshi shouted as the engine died. "What are you doing?"

"Shut up!" Sho yelled back as the gunfire drew closer and another bullet took out the right wing mirror. Panicked, Sho put the car into reverse, forcing the men to retreat to avoid being hit. They swore furiously in Mandarin before recovering themselves enough to start shooting again.

The events that followed happened in a complete blur. Sho managed to put the car into first gear, the tires screeching in protest at his heavy treatment of the car as he pulled he steering wheel round hard to the left to get them on the road again. They had just left the curb when there was a loud bang. Then he lost control of the car. It took Sho seconds to realise that they had shot the front right tire out. Still moving and going faster than they should have been, Sho fought to regain control but he was an inexperienced driver and this proved impossible.

It spun out of control and seconds later smashed into the low wall surrounding the opposite apartment block.

Sho guessed he must have temporarily blacked out for when he next became aware of his surroundings he was slumped face down on the steering wheel, blood trickling from a gash on his forehead. Keeping his eyes closed, Sho forced down nausea as he struggled to focus on the voices around him.

"… two unconscious or worse… no matter though… got one we need…"

Allowing only another couple of seconds to go by, Sho opened his eyes. The voices had moved away and a quick glance to his side confirmed that Shinji was no longer in the car with him. Toshi was gone too. Full of fear for his friends, Sho started to move, carefully inching his hand towards the glove compartment and the gun stashed inside. His movements had, so far, gone unnoticed and again snatches of the conversation came back to him.

"… what's owed to me…" Came an angry voice in Mandarin and then Toshi's terrified reply:

"… your money… just give him a little more time…"

"He's had plenty of time… Chan's patience is wearing thin…"

There were some more words uttered and then Toshi's voice became panicked.

"… do that and you won't get anything!"

"… set an example… don't want others thinking Chan's gone soft."

Fear for his friend and brother gripped Sho and he abandoned all caution as his hand closed around the gun. He snatched up the weapon and leapt out of the car, firing two shots in quick succession before the men even knew what was happening. His first went wild but his second struck home. The man in the centre of their group, nearest Shinji, fell down with a cry of pain. As soon as he fell, Sho vaulted over the hood of the car, putting the vehicle between him and the remaining men. During the gunfire, Toshi and Shinji had managed to retreat there also.

It was strange, Sho thought fleetingly, how one of the men dropped down beside the fallen one whilst the other two opened fire. Most usually the Chinese thugs didn't care if one of their comrades was hit, instead always focusing on the mission at hand. However, he soon dismissed this when bullets struck the car.

_Kei…_

Sho swallowed hard, full of fear for the unconscious vampire who was still inside. He had four shots and then his gun was spent. If he didn't kill these men then he and the others were as good as dead. Feeling terrified and also a rush of adrenaline at the pressure he was under, Sho silently counted to five. On five he moved away from his friends and left the shield of the car. The two men shouted angrily and took aim but Sho was quicker. He fired off another two shots. His first one struck another man in the chest and he went down, his gun skidding underneath the car and safely out of reach of the remaining men. The other bullet again went wild but caught the second gunman across the back of the hand. He cried out and, too, dropped his weapon. Seeing that the third was still knelt over the fallen man, Sho realised that he had the advantage. He opened his mouth to speak, with the intention of ordering them to surrender when a stab of pain shot through his head. Sho stumbled as, momentarily, his vision turned to black. When he was next aware of what was happening, Toshi had him by the arm and was ushering him back into the car.

"Toshi? What are you doing? We've got them."

"Baka!" Toshi snarled out, much to Sho's surprise. "Just get into the car."

"Toshi?" Sho tried to pull away, not understanding where his friend was coming from. They could easily kill the remaining men without putting themselves in any danger so why were they pulling back now?

Toshi opened the car door and forced Sho in beside Kei and Shinji climbed into the front passenger seat.

"What's going on?" Sho demanded angrily as Toshi pulled the car away from the curb and they sped off down the street as fast as they could with the tire blown out.

"Do you know who that man you shot was?" Toshi demanded once they were clear.

"No. One of Chan's goons I expect." Sho snapped back furiously.

"The man you shot was Xiong, Chan's right hand man."

"So what? If it means we've actually struck a blow against him that will hurt then that's good so what's the big deal?"

"Xiong is also Chan's son."

* * *

_Somewhere deep down inside Kei knew that the scene that he was reliving had taken place long ago but still he took comfort in his memories, even the painful ones, for, of this particular person, they were all he had left. _

_Kei had met Luka long ago, back in the nineteenth century when he was still human. Their meeting in a bar had been a chance one and they had soon become friends. However, Luka's true nature was not something that he could hide forever and, once Kei knew the truth about his friend, his days as a human were numbered. _

_It had been a street robbery and Kei had foolishly tried to escape them. Luka had found him bleeding to death in an alley and had made the decision to change him. This was a decision that Kei had never quite forgiven Luka for making. _

_Yet, in the end, they had stayed together be it out of fear of being alone and something deeper. Kei and Luka had been lovers and had been before Kei was turned. Back then it had been innocent, Kei had been innocent but once he was turned it had all changed. Kei had changed and he had often wondered what his life would have been like if it had been allowed to run its natural course. It was the same for Luka, too, he supposed but there were moments when he was glad of his immortality and this was one of them. _

_Kei limped along, keeping his gaze focused on the vampire in front of him, even as his broken body struggled to heal. They had been disturbed whilst feeding and had been forced to make their escape out of a fifth floor window; a drop straight down onto concrete. Luka had landed on his feet with practiced skill and was unscathed but Kei hadn't been so fortunate. It had only been a few minutes before that Luka had been carrying him whilst his broken back mended but even a vampire had limits, especially one who hadn't fed in a while. _

_Luka had a rule that when they arrived in a new place they did not feed for a few days or people would start to become suspicious. It was a wise move but the hunger was still something that Kei couldn't quite get used to. They had been in Taiwan for four nights and hadn't been able to feed much before then so Luka had taken a chance and they had been caught. Now they were running for Luka hated to kill when it wasn't necessary but Kei didn't feel that he could go on. _

_He heard a horrible crack as he was forced to dodge the bullets that were fired. Handguns in those days were primitive compared to the present but could still do a lot of damage and Kei couldn't risk another injury right now. _

_The crack, he soon discovered, was another of his ribs breaking and he almost choked as blood welled up in his throat. Swallowing hard, he tried to speed up but the pain was nearly to the point where he couldn't stand. _

_He stumbled again and struggled to keep going. Kei focused on Luka who was moving further and further away. His mentor hadn't realised that Kei was in difficulty and was leaving him behind. _

_Gritting his teeth, Kei tore his gaze from Luka and glanced wildly around him. There was a side alley, almost invisible to the human eye in the dark and Kei ducked down this, throwing himself painfully back against the wall to conceal himself as much as possible and, as he predicted, the men raced by, still after his mentor's retreating form. _

_Sighing, Kei slumped down onto the wet concrete. Minutes for a vampire were a mere blink of the eye but for Kei right now they seemed to stretch on for a lifetime. He sat still and took the deep breaths as he felt his body begin to mend. The bones knitted back together and his cuts and bruises vanished from sight. Soon all Kei was left with was a feeling of weakness and a dull ache in his lower back where his spine had broken. _

_He felt a few rain droplets splash down onto him but Kei didn't feel fully able to move just yet. There was a while yet until dawn so he could take his time. Luka would be fine, this he knew with certainty. Most likely his mentor would lead them away and then come back to look for him. Moving further back into the alley and taking shelter underneath a fire escape, Kei settled himself down to wait for Luka's return. _

The first emotion that Kei felt when he slowly began to come round was sorrow. He swallowed hard to dislodge the lump that had formed in his throat. It was the same, whenever he had dreams about his dead mentor. He was felt feeling empty inside and with a sadness that he couldn't quite shake. Thinking of Luka also made Kei feel terribly guilty, guilty that he had not stayed with his lover until the very end.

Taking a sharp inhalation of breath, Kei forced his eyes open. He was lying on his leather sofa bed back at home. He could hear voices in the background and he quickly made out Sho's as being the loudest. The second was Toshi's and the usually laid back and humorous young man was almost as riled as Sho was and Kei realised that they were shouting at each other.

"I don't care!" Sho was declaring stubbornly. "I'm not going to run from a fight!"

"Sho, will you listen to me! This is serious! You cannot fight this time. We have to go. Now."

"This is your fault to start with! If you had just let me kill them instead of running then we wouldn't be in this situation now!"

"I panicked. I'm sorry, Sho, but we cannot afford to argue about this. We need to leave."

Toshi's furious tone must have surprised Sho as much it did Kei for he suddenly fell silent. Encouraged, Toshi continued: "We've already wasted enough time as it is. I have a friend who will loan us a car. Pack what you need and no more and wait for me."

Very much concerned by the fact that Toshi was taking charge for once, Kei struggled to move, thus making his return to consciousness known.

"Kei!" Instantly Sho was at his side, kneeling worriedly down by the sofa bed and placing his hands on Kei's shoulders, forcing him back down. "Take it easy."

Kei frowned until he recalled the details of his sudden collapse and the hunger… the hunger that had long since faded but his weakness had not. Shivering, he was still determined not to appear helpless and pushed himself up into a sitting position, despite Sho's protests.

"I'll be back soon." Toshi said, exiting the apartment without another word. Kei's concern instantly turned into out right worry. Toshi was never this serious and this afraid. Never.

"What happened?"

"You fainted at the beach." Sho explained, pretending to misunderstand Kei's question. "We brought you back here to rest up."

"No." Kei shook his head. "What happened to you?" At that moment he looked up at Sho, scenting blood in the air as his gaze locked onto the still slightly bleeding gash on Sho's forehead and the ugly purple bruise that was forming around it.

"I had a little car accident, that's all." Sho dismissed him stubbornly. "You should take it easy for a few days. Stop worrying about me."

"No." Kei shook his head, "That's not it at all. Tell me what happened."

Sho sighed, "We had a little trouble with some of Chan's goons, that's all, but don't worry it's all taken care of now."

"No it's not." Shinji startled Kei by interrupting. Kei was having trouble concentrating in his weakened state but he was slightly alarmed that he hadn't sensed Shinji's presence before the man spoke. "Toshi's right. We have to get out of here."

"Shut up!" Sho snarled, jumping up from his place at Kei's side. "He can't travel! Not in his state! We'll never get far enough away by dawn."

"Then we leave him behind."

"No."

"He can't be killed so what's the problem?"

"No." Sho repeated stubbornly. "We're not leaving Kei behind."

As the seconds passed by, Kei was becoming more and more concerned by the situation, concerned and frustrated as he sensed Sho's fear. Sho's front had been nothing more than him putting on a brave face. Something had happened, something bad enough that they wanted to run from the city and the only reason that Sho was refusing was because of Kei.

Feeling angry and helpless, Kei stood up and grabbed Sho by the shoulders as he snarled out with more fury than he intended: "What did you do?"

Very much taken aback, Sho's gaze darted away from the angry vampire and to Shinji. Shinji limped over to them, regarding Kei with a mixture of loathing and fear as he said: "Let him go, Kei."

Startled, Kei realised that he was holding Sho far tighter than he had intended to. He also noted some deep scratches in his shoulders, scratches that Kei regretfully recalled causing.

"I'm sorry." He muttered, his sudden exertion catching up with him again and Kei was forced to sit back down.

Sho nodded silently, accepting this. Then, sitting down beside Kei and lighting a cigarette, he spoke again.

"After you fainted we decided to take you back home. We were going to drop Shinji off first but we were attacked by some of Chan's men. I took them out but…" Sho drew a breath, again betraying how scared he really was. "One of them was Xiong."

Kei was well aware of who Xiong was and he cast a pained look at Sho. The younger man was as good as dead. Chan would never let this go; never.

He also felt a terrible wave of guilt wash over him. The fact that Sho had got into this situation to begin with was Kei's fault. Had he just forced away his self-pity and fed then he would have been in a position to stop any of this from happening. As it was, Kei knew that he couldn't take on Chan in his condition. Toshi was right; they had to leave Mallepa.

Forcing down his weariness, Kei softly instructed Sho to pack some of their things. "What?" Sho asked in disbelief. "Kei--"

"Don't argue, Sho." Kei snapped as he again dragged himself off of the sofa bed and made his way into the kitchen. In the drawer under the sink they kept a selection of weaponry and Kei opened this now. He chose a couple of guns and made sure that they were loaded. They had several boxes of spare bullets and Kei took those too.

Coming back into the front room, he gave one gun to Shinji and kept the other two for himself. "Keep this on you at all times." He instructed before going through to the bedroom where Sho was in front of the open wardrobe furiously tearing clothes off hangers and tossing them into a suitcase.

"Sho--" Kei started but trailed off when the younger man looked up and Kei saw the tears that had welled up in his eyes.

"I've killed us all haven't I?" Sho asked softly, the quiver in his voice almost broke Kei's heart.

"No." Kei shook his head, trying his best to reassure Sho. "I'll protect you. All of you."

"You can barely stand!" Sho cried out, slamming the suitcase violently shut as he spoke. "We're dead, Kei."

It was hard to believe that only a few hours ago they were all over at Son and Yi-Che's having fun and just relaxing. It was a stark reminder to Kei that nothing ever remained the same. He thought again of Luka at that moment and his heart ached at the thought of losing Sho, too.

"Sho, listen to me." Kei said firmly, "You need to focus. We cannot afford to make any more mistakes. At the moment we have the advantage so we need to act quickly."

"How? What do you have in mind?"

Kei shook his head and refused to elaborate. He had thought of a way out of this but he didn't want Sho involved at all. At the moment they had to get away. Sho was right, Kei couldn't fight in his condition but there was no time to feed now. Firstly he had to concentrate on keeping Sho safe. That was Kei's main focus at the moment.

* * *

Sho was still shaking, even after Kei left the bedroom. He had finished packing and had sat down on the bed trying to regain his composure before he faced his brother or best friend again. Never before had Sho felt fear like this. His one mistake had most likely cost them all their lives. Kei was trying to reassure him but he knew as well as Sho did that they were as good as dead. That was why he hadn't wanted to run. Sho had wanted to stay and face Chan so that his friends might be spared. He just couldn't face living in fear for the rest of his life. Every time one of them was late back they would worry. It was no way to live but if Chan got to Sho then perhaps the others would be spared._I'll protect you. All of you_

Kei would try to help them but how could he? He wasn't anywhere near full strength and Sho was still very concerned about his friend. Kei looked as though he was going to collapse at any moment. He needed blood very badly; no matter how much he tried to hide it. It was only a few hours until dawn and true they could cover a good distance in that time but traffic going out of the city was always bad and they would have to take a scenic route to avoid being spotted.

Sho stood up, feeling desperation welling up inside of him again. This was hopeless… they were going to get caught and then… Sho shuddered at this. What if they found out about Kei? The vampire was risking more than his life by coming with them. Perhaps he should stay behind? Sho dismissed this in an instant. He was not leaving Kei and, in any case, he felt a lot safer having the vampire with them. If it came down to a fight, they would need Kei more than ever before and Kei himself knew this too.

No… Sho told himself, trying to regain some of his confidence. It wouldn't come to that. Kei had never failed them before now and he was right, they had the advantage. If they could just use this then they had ever chance of getting away. Forcing himself to think positively, when deep down he felt anything but, Sho finally found it within himself to go back and rejoin the other two. Kei was once again seated but Shinji was pacing anxiously back and forth, occasionally looking out of the window.

"Any sign of Toshi?" Sho asked, breaking the silence.

"Not yet." Shinji replied flatly.

According to Shinji, he had gotten behind on his payments for drugs and that was why Chan's men had been waiting for him. Sho had initially felt anger that Shinji would deliberately endanger them but he knew that Shinji was so messed up at times that he didn't know what he was doing. In any case, Sho knew that they couldn't argue about it now. As soon as Toshi came back they would be leaving.

"_You need to focus. We cannot afford to make any more mistakes. At the moment we have the advantage so we need to act quickly."_

"_How? What do you have in mind?"_

Kei's words echoed in his head and Sho couldn't help but wonder just what the vampire was going to do. A part of him was glad that Kei had thought of something but part of him was also very concerned.

_Kei… just what do you plan on doing?_


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: On the run**

(_One day earlier) _

Toshi had returned about fifteen minutes later and the four of them had wasted little time in leaving. Thinking ahead, Toshi had mentioned to his friend that they wanted the car for a trip across Taiwan and mentioned the capital. This foresight was a wise move, for inevitably, Toshi's contacts would be questioned and Sho was a little surprised that Toshi was being so calm about everything.

The car that Toshi had borrowed was a foreign make and was black. Seeing as most of the cars on the road nowadays were black, Toshi had figured it would help them blend in better. Toshi also insisted on driving, as he didn't want Sho's lack of regard for the Highway Code attracting unwanted attention.

In honest truth, Sho was actually glad, as his head had started to hurt again. The pain started out centred where the cut was but now had lanced out from there and his entire forehead was aching. He had, on Kei's insistence, taken time to clean the wound but nothing more. Ordinarily he knew that he should get it checked out at a hospital but they just couldn't risk that. Instead Sho had taken a couple of Aspirin before setting out and was hoping that the pain would go away.

He had climbed into the back of the car next to Kei and Shinji had taken the front passenger seat. In a bid to dispel the tenseness in the atmosphere, Toshi switched the radio on as he drove the car away from their apartment. He took one of the back streets and drove within the speed limit but well at the upper end of it.

For a while, Sho tried to concentrate on the rock music but his mind kept wandering. He glanced in the rear-view mirror every now and again worrying that each car that came too close to them was Chan's goons. The fact that everyone in the car was in danger because of him was gnawing away in the back of his mind and Sho just couldn't shake that, despite his resolve to be strong.

"Sho?" Kei finally broke the silence. "You look tired. Why don't you sleep for a while?"

"No." He shook his head and turned to look at the vampire. If anything, Kei looked tired but Sho knew that the vampire would not sleep until they were safely away. Sho felt the same way but appreciated Kei's concern anyway. Feeling that familiar ache inside of him whenever he looked at his best friend, Sho struggled to think of something else to say. He didn't want to bring up the subject of Kei's weakness but it was all he could think about.

"Where are we going?" He asked instead, directing this question at Toshi.

"A friend of mine has a place where we can hide out for a few days. It's about an hour and half away, on the very fringe of the city. It should be safe."

"An hour and a half?" Sho glanced down at his watch and his anxiety increased. They had an hour and forty-five minutes until it would start to get light. Even though the car offered Kei some protection, Sho wasn't sure that it would be enough.

"Give or take." Toshi allowed, sensing Sho's worry.

"And this place is secure?" Kei asked, "I take it we can trust your friend?"

"Of course," Toshi nodded. "We can trust him."

"Good." Kei sounded relieved.

"And then what?" Shinji asked, the sneering edge to his voice more than a little noticeable as he spoke.

Kei did not reply. Sho knew that the vampire had something in mind and he was becoming increasingly convinced that he wasn't going to like what it was. Shinji, on the other hand, did not know this and took it to mean that Kei didn't know.

"Great," he replied bitterly. "That's just great."

"You wanted to run, Nii-chan." Sho pointed out defensively.

"Yes, but I at least hoped that he might have a plan! This…" Shinji gestured to the car, "This isn't going to work at all."

His panic was catching and Toshi was at least starting to look both doubtful and nervous. Sho knew that he had to do/say something quickly but Kei beat him to it.

"It will." He assured them calmly, "All we need to do is get to Toshi's friend's place."

"And then what?" Shinji pressed, even forgetting his dislike of Kei, for the moment at least.

"You don't need to worry about then." Kei answered him; "I will deal with things from there."

It was clear that Shinji was far from satisfied with this answer and Sho wasn't exactly happy with it either. He was about to press the matter further when his phone started to ring.

"Son." He said, remembering the Taiwanese's request that they call him to let him know about Kei.

"Don't tell him anything." Toshi advised as Sho answered the call, "There's no point in putting him and Yi-Che in danger, too."

Sho nodded in agreement and answered the call.

"Where have you been?" Was Son's immediate question. "I tried the landline and couldn't get an answer."

"We're still out." Sho lied quickly, "Kei woke up and was feeling a bit better so we decided to drive around for a little while."

"That's good that he's feeling better. If he's feeling up to it tomorrow night would you like to come round for dinner again?"

"Tomorrow?" Sho repeated, "I'm not sure. We have a couple of things to sort out. Shall I call you when we're done?"

"Sure, whatever. I tell you what, Yi-Che's receiving a reward for all the regeneration work she's been doing in the park on Friday. Why don't you guys come to that? I was thinking we could have a small celebration back at our apartment for her, too."

"Sounds great." Sho did his best to sound enthusiastic but he obviously wasn't very convincing as Son's next question was:

"Are you okay? You sound a little stressed."

"Yeah, just a little worried about Kei still that's all."

"That's okay. You guys are practically family, aren't you."

"We are." Sho glanced at Kei as he spoke. It was true, he was still very worried about the vampire but he knew that he had to put this to the back of his mind and focus as Kei had asked him to.

"I'll let you go." Son said at last, "Just take care okay? And be careful. I don't know what's up but word on the street is that the Chinese gangs are riled by something."

"Yeah?" Sho asked, doing his best to sound only casually interested. He hated lying to his friend but it was much safer for Son and Yi-Che this way.

"I don't know the details but it sounds big. I wouldn't get mixed up in any of that if I were you."

"Thanks for the advice. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Okay then."

They went through the pleasantries and Sho hung up, feeling even more stressed than he had been before Son had called. It was only a matter of time before his Taiwanese friends were dragged into this too now. Chan's men were bound to question them and Sho at least wished that he could warn them but Toshi was right. The less they knew then the safer they would be in the long run.

Sighing, Sho again glanced in the rear-view mirror as he lit a cigarette. That black convertible had been behind them since he started his phone call with Son, he noted and, purely on a whim, he requested that Toshi take the next turn off.

"Why? We'll be going the wrong way." Toshi questioned, clearly not having noticed that car.

"Just do it." Sho didn't want to explain his fears and alarm them unnecessarily but, when Toshi did as asked, his heart sank when the other car turned as well.

Sho's heart was hammering in his chest when he turned to Kei, knowing that his friend had noticed the car as well. They couldn't afford to take too much of a detour and lose it because they were so close to dawn breaking.

Toshi took another turn onto a side street. Again the car made the same turn. There was no doubt about it, it was definitely following them. Swallowing hard, Sho tried to think of a way out of this. At the moment there could only be five of them at the most but more could arrive very quickly. They had to do something now or else everything was lost.

"Toshi, pull over," Kei suddenly requested.

"What?" The younger man asked in shock for he had now realised too that they were being tailed.

"Pull over," Kei repeated as he unfastened his seatbelt and then Sho's. "Stay down." He ordered when the car came to a standstill.

"Where are you going?" Sho demanded, feeling a twinge of fear for his friend.

"I'm going to see what they want." Before Sho could protest further, Kei had opened the door and got out of the car.

"What the hell is he doing?" Shinji hissed, the fury evident in his voice. "He's going to get us all killed!"

"Just shut up and keep down," Sho snapped back, echoing Kei's words. "He knows what he's doing."

This quietened his brother, but didn't mean that Sho felt any the more reassured. They sat in silence for a few minutes and it was an agonising wait for them all. In the end Sho just couldn't bear it. What if they had hurt Kei? Or worse? Even though Kei appeared to have forgotten the events previously that evening, Sho had not.

"Where are you going?" Toshi hissed when Sho, making his decision, opened the passenger door.

"I'm going to see if Kei's alright," Sho explained in a tone that would hear no argument but this didn't stop Shinji from taunting him snidely by saying:

"I thought he knew what he was doing?"

"Shut up, Nii-chan." Sho snapped as he slipped out of the car.

His heart was beating painfully in his chest as Sho moved quickly towards the other car. The gap between the two wasn't very long, probably a couple of metres at the most, and the fact that he couldn't see Kei at all caused him to speed up, to close the distance between them faster.

Sho already had one hand on the gun hidden underneath his jacket as he continued his approach. He didn't know whether he should call out or not. He could now make out the shapes of two people sitting in the front of the car and, as Sho drew nearer still, he realised that they were both slumped forward in their seats, not moving.

Feeling a sudden surge of adrenaline, Sho walked round to the passenger side and opened the door. He knew immediately that the two men were dead. Staring at them, Sho swallowed hard at the sight of the neat bullet holes in the backs of their heads. Only Kei could take someone completely unawares like that and they probably hadn't even had time to realise what was about to happen. Even though he loved Kei, the idea of this cold-blooded slaughter had shaken Sho and he took a step back. Kei was also the only one of them to use silencers on his guns. They wouldn't have heard a thing.

"I told you to wait in the car." Kei's voice was behind him suddenly and Sho trembled when he felt Kei's breath on his shoulder.

Turning around, he struggled to keep his expression relaxed as he answered to this: "I got tired of waiting." He smiled afterwards but it was very much forced.

"I was checking that these two hadn't been followed also." Kei explained quietly, "They weren't but we should go now. Someone's bound to miss these guys sooner or later."

"Kei?" Sho caught the vampire's arm as a sudden thought occurred to him, "You should feed before we go."

This statement took Kei aback and the pained expression on his face was quickly masked by something unreadable, as he shook his head 'no'. "There isn't time."

"We can delay a few minutes," Sho, against his better judgement, decided to press the issue.

"I'm fine." Kei insisted and, at this, Sho felt his concern and anger flare up again.

"You need blood. How can you fight if you're weak?"

"I'm fine." Kei reiterated stubbornly, "Sho, this is not the place to be having this conversation. We have to get out of here."

"Not until you feed."

"I can't!" Kei suddenly cried out, abandoning all composure. "Do you have any idea what this does to me? Being what I am?"

"Not this again." Sho felt his temper spiking in a combination of frustration and fear. "Kei you only do what you do to _survive_. I would rather you killed a hundred men than be without you and these guys…" he gestured to the dead men, "They deserve it."

"And what gives you the right to decide that?" Kei answered angrily.

"If you won't do it for yourself then do it for us. We need you Kei, we need your strength. Please."

Utter desperation was quickly entering his voice now and, for a moment, Sho actually dared to hope that he had gotten through to Kei, especially when the vampire took a step towards him.

It was then that it happened but this time Sho recognised the warning signs. Slowly Kei's moss coloured eyes started to go in and out of focus and then his legs buckled beneath him. Anticipating this, Sho had already run forward and had caught the vampire round the waist. Seconds later he became a deadweight in Sho's arms.

"Kei…" Sho felt tears beginning to well up in his eyes as he looked down at his friend. All of this… it was too much for Kei and this was all his fault. If only he hadn't of been so stupid…

"Sho?" Toshi's voice broke into his thoughts and Sho glanced up as his friend approached. Toshi's expression turned to one of alarm and panic when he saw what had happened. "Not again…" He murmured, the fear evident in his voice and then louder, "Come on, we need to go."

Sho nodded and, without another word, followed Toshi back to the car.

"What are we going to do?" Toshi asked quietly once Sho had settled down in the back of the car. He had laid Kei across his lap and hadn't taken his eyes off of the vampire's pale face since. They had been sat in the car for a few minutes, each one of them at a loss as to what to do next. "Without Kei…" he didn't finish his sentence; there was no need to.

"_You need to focus. We cannot afford to make any more mistakes. At the moment we have the advantage so we need to act quickly."_

"We need to get to your friend's place," Sho said as he recalled Kei's words. Both Toshi and Shinji were looking to him now to get them out of this and Sho knew that he had to take charge, he couldn't afford to waste anymore time.

"What's wrong with him anyway?" Shinji asked, his voice slightly unfeeling, as he nodded to Kei's still form.

"He can't feed," Sho admitted quietly as he recalled, with a shiver, Kei's desperate words during their last job and then, just now, before he'd collapsed.

_I can't…_

"Can't?" Toshi echoed, "What do you mean he can't?"

"I don't know! He won't talk to me!" Sho snarled out. He knew that getting angry with Toshi wouldn't help but he was feeling more frightened by each passing second. He was losing Kei and he didn't know what he could do to save him. Sho had seen Kei depressed before but this was different. It was as though Kei needed something and Sho just couldn't give whatever it was to him.

Drawing a sharp breath, Sho managed to instruct Toshi to continue on their way. It was all they could do now. They had to get away and to the safe house before any more of Chan's goons found them.

Thankfully Toshi did as requested without a word and the three of them lapsed into a subdued silence. Sho continued to hold Kei tightly, frightened at how cold the vampire was becoming and, as dawn approached, the idea that Sho might lose him became all the more real and this terrified him much more than their current situation.

* * *

As Son hung up the phone to Sho, he had vaguely been aware of a knock at the door of their apartment. Yi-Che had already moved to get this and he let her, as he was a little troubled by the degree of tension in Sho's voice. As he had continued his conversation with his friend, Son had come to the conclusion that something was wrong. Of course, he could just put it down to the fact that Sho was worried about Kei. The two of them were very close, much closer than any of the others and it was painfully obvious to Son that Sho's feelings for Kei were much more than just friendship.

This did not bother Son in the slightest. It was the 21st century after all and such feelings weren't uncommon, especially as Kei had cared for Sho for so many years. Deeper feelings were bond to have developed along the way. Kei's emotions were more difficult to read but occasionally Son would catch sight of Kei looking at Sho in a way that gave him reason to believe that Sho's feelings weren't as unrequited as perhaps the younger man believed.

In a way, Son felt sad for them for Kei would never be human and so a relationship was out of the question. Son was also aware that Yi-Che harboured feelings for Kei and he was trying to find the right way to explain to her that there was more than just the obvious reason as to why Kei had never shown any romantic interest in her but Son was a little reluctant to say anything for Yi-Che had been through a lot and he didn't want her to have her heart trodden on again.

He was in the process of going through to the kitchen when the door was slammed loudly and this caused him to turn around.

Yi-Che ran to him, terrified, as the two men entered the room. Son recognised them as being from Chan's gang although he could not recall their names.

They advanced quickly and before Son could react, the bigger one grabbed him by his shirt collar and slammed him painfully into the wall behind. Yi-Che immediately tried to go to his aid and the second caught her a blow round the cheek, sending her sprawling to the floor. Rage welled up inside of Son at this treatment of his sister and he struggled to break free but it was clear that the men weren't interested in her.

Son had, had some dealings with Chan before, after all the Chinese Mafia Boss practically ran Mallepa so, of course, Son couldn't help but get involved from time to time. His first thoughts were that Chan had somehow found out that he was assisting Kei and Sho with jobs and this was almost confirmed when the men demanded to know where Sho and his friends were.

Son would never betray a friend and claimed that he did not know. Angered, the man holding him released him. Son ran to Yi-Che, helping her to her feet as they tore through the apartment, checking every single room.

After doing so they came storming back into the front room. Yi-Che's eyes went wide with fear when the man who had held Son before grabbed hold of him again.

"Well when you see Sho next," the man began furiously, "perhaps you could pass on a message to him for us?"

Son said nothing to this, steeling himself for the blows that he knew were coming.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: Falling Apart**

(_One day earlier)_

It was almost dawn by the time that Sho and his friends reached their destination. He had instructed Toshi and Shinji to wait in the car with Kei whilst he made sure that it was safe for them to venture inside.

The apartment that Toshi's friend had let them use was situated in one of the poorer parts of the city and the building itself was part of a block that had been earmarked for redevelopment. This, however, was not taking place until next year so they were safe there for a while.

Once he had checked all of the rooms, Sho pulled the drapes across all the windows and then went back down for his friends.

Mercifully they hadn't been followed since but Sho knew that they couldn't take the chance that someone might recognise the car and ordered Toshi to get rid of it.

His friend had offered some mild protests at this but Sho was not in the mood to argue and thus he had eventually complied.

Kei still hadn't woken up, a fact that was worrying Sho terribly although he tried to hide this. He carried the vampire inside and immediately went through to one of the bedrooms. There was little furniture and only one of the two rooms contained a bed with a mattress. Sho laid his friend down on the bed and made sure that he was comfortable before going through to the kitchen to get himself some water and to light a cigarette.

"How long do we have to remain here for?" Shinji asked, also joining his brother.

"I don't know," Sho admitted quietly, "A few days I guess. We'll talk about it in the evening."

"You mean when Kei wakes up," Shinji answered, a little bit spitefully.

"Nii-chan," Sho said with a sigh, "What do you have against Kei? He's been very good to us over the years."

"He's a monster," Shinji grumbled, "I'm sorry Sho but I don't trust him. He could turn on us."

"He won't." Sho snapped back, suddenly angry with his brother but knowing better than to start a fight.

"Yeah whatever," Shinji sighed and moved away, back into the front room.

Sho let him go. Instead he looked around the small kitchen, taking in the brown wallpaper that was peeling off the walls and the water stains in corners near to the ceiling. They couldn't stay here long-term. They had to get out of the city and then…

"_I'll protect you. All of you."_

Kei's words again came to the forefront of his mind and Sho couldn't help but wonder what the vampire had planned and even now if he were capable of carrying out his plan. Sho had seen Kei weak before but never like this. What had he meant by 'I can't'? Why couldn't he feed? Sho just didn't understand and he suddenly felt angry with Kei for putting them all through this. He needed Kei's strength, they all did. Without him they didn't stand much of a chance. Sho hated to admit this but, as skilled as he was with firearms, he could not fight an entire gang alone.

Then there was Kei himself. Sho loved Kei and wanted so much more from the vampire than he dared to divulge but Sho was beginning to realise that he didn't know Kei at all. He had failed to see the warning signs; he had failed to find the reason why Kei had suddenly given up on life. As far as Sho was aware nothing had changed. They were living as they normally did and enjoying hanging out with their other friends and pulling jobs together. They were getting on okay so why the sudden change?

They didn't talk much about feelings, for most guys tended not to, but Sho thought he had a good measure of Kei's personality by now and that they could understand each other without ever having to resort to words. Kei always knew what Sho was thinking or feeling and could read him better than anyone but when it came to Kei himself… Sho just didn't know. True his stronger feelings for Kei were the reason why he had put some distance between them but he had not verbally said anything different, he had simply stopped initiating too many embraces that was all. Sho knew that Kei didn't return his feelings and so he didn't want to risk losing their friendship over his. He would rather have Kei in his life as a friend than not at all but, at the moment, it was looking as though he would lose him anyway.

This very idea shook him to the core. Sho couldn't lose Kei. If he did then he might as well give up now for he knew with certainty that he just couldn't survive without Kei. Even if, by some miracle, he managed to escape Chan and his goons, Sho just wouldn't be able to carry on without Kei in his life. When he had first met Kei, his life had seemed dark and hopeless. Kei had brought back a little of that hope. No matter what happened, Sho would always need Kei.

Swallowing hard, Sho went back through the bedroom and found himself kneeling down beside his friend. He did not look at all comfortable in his sleep. His skin was chalk white and every so often a small tremor would shudder through his weak form. His expression was troubled and his breathing was much too light for Sho's liking.

As much as Sho hated to admit it, he'd never fully understood Kei's curse. He knew the basics but he didn't understand why Kei had to breath. Was it a reflex action instilled in him from his human past or was it a necessity to vampire, too? He didn't understand why the blood that Kei drank had to be human or even how he had come to be turned. The only inkling that Sho had ever been given was during an event that happened when he was fifteen.

Kei had already left for the night. It was the middle of December and had been snowing hard. The four of them had sheltered in the abandoned building that they called home for days now but hunger had finally forced Kei out to feed. Shinji was asleep and Toshi was playing a handheld computer game that he had found in a dustbin a few days ago.

Sho was restless. Kei had been gone a long time now, over a couple of hours in fact. In the recent months, Sho had taken up smoking. It was a habit that he had picked up from the vampire and, although Kei had tried to discourage him, he eventually gave in and now supplied the teenager with the occasional packet of cigarettes. Sho had just smoked his last one and had been rifling through Kei's things in the hopes of finding the silver cigarette case that the vampire kept his supplies in. Unfortunately, it looked as though he had taken it with him and Sho sighed in annoyance at this. He had, however, found a couple of notes and decided to nip to the store down the road and buy some. Already Sho was getting tall and he was confident that he could purchase them and, in any case, the storeowner rarely questioned whom he sold them to.

Annoying that he was going out, Sho slipped through the gap in the broken masonry before Toshi could voice any protests; for Kei hated them going out alone.

Sho, however, being a typical brash teenager, had thought he was invincible and walked down the street with a confident swagger but mindful of being quick lest Kei return before him. He hated to worry his friend, especially as Kei took great pains to ensure their safety.

To get to the store he had to pass beside a couple of back alleys that, during the day, were fine but at night it was a local hangout for would-be robbers and murderers. Sho, however, was unaware of this and made the mistake of passing too close to one.

His cry of surprise was muffled by a rough hand that clamped over his mouth as he was hauled bodily back into the alley. He was slammed hard up against the wall as a coarse voice snarled in his ear: "Money. Now."

Terrified, Sho handed them the few crumpled notes that he had but it was soon clear to him that they thought he had more. A decisive and painful punch knocked him to the ground and a sharp kick in his stomach ensured that he stayed in the snow, gasping painfully as the ringleader knelt down beside him.

A cry escaped his lips as hands roughly searched him, turning out his pockets and scattering the contents, which included a lighter and a few bits of paper, into the snow. Then he was hauled to his feet again and pinned back against the wall.

The second blow to his face hurt but the ones that followed were blotted out by the pain of the first. Sho vaguely recalled trying to fight back but the man was too strong and the one time that he did manage to break free the others forced him back. He was trapped and Sho was sure that he was going to die.

It was when the man raised his hand to deal Sho with the next blow that it happened. Looking up at the man's yell of surprise, Sho saw another person behind him and that person had hold of the man's wrist.

Determinedly and with seemingly little effort, Kei pulled the man away from Sho and threw him bodily to the ground. The man winced in pain and the others, three in total, immediately stepped in front of him.

Still reeling from the blows, Sho found it hard to focus and his vision momentarily blanketed. However, when it next came back into focus, the three remaining men were running for their lives. The forth was lying in the snow, still twitching slightly as Kei drank his fill.

Sho hadn't seen Kei feed since the day so long ago when Kei had rescued them from the Chinese thug and now Kei had saved his life again. Feeling foolish Sho stayed leaning back against the wall until Kei finally looked up from his meal. For a moment his eyes appeared to be glazed over but Sho knew that it was just the blood lust and that it would pass and, seconds later, it did and Kei stood, discarding the body without a second thought.

"What were you thinking?" Kei asked quietly but the tone of his voice suggested that he was furious with the teenager. "You could have been killed, Sho."

"I just wanted some cigarettes," he mumbled. Sho hated it when Kei was angry with him. The feelings that it invoked were a mixture of what a child felt to be scolded by his parents or to have an argument with a best friend.

"You don't know who might be about," Kei snapped, his voice slightly raised now. "If I hadn't have come along when I did…" Kei trailed off and Sho was stunned to see that the vampire was trembling. From the very beginning a bond had developed between them but Sho had never been sure just how much Kei cared about him until that night.

The vampire's expression then softened and he instead suggested that they go home so that he could take a look at Sho's face. Sho could taste blood in his mouth but a split lip was the least of his concerns compared to the tense state that Kei was in.

Sho had never had the chance to question Kei about that night. The vampire kept his past, especially his life before he was turned, a mystery as though it were too painful. He only spoke of it when he felt so inclined but his reaction to what happened that night was enough for Sho to start wondering again.

Looking back now, his suspicions were that Kei was attacked once before, too, and that it had brought back some painful memories.

_Do you have any idea what this does to me? Being what I am_?

Staring down at the vampire now, Sho's heart clenched as he recalled Kei's pain-filled words. True, he couldn't ever claim to know how Kei felt but he could see the self-imposed suffering and felt that as much as Kei did. Sho knew that he had no right to demand that Kei feed when the vampire clearly wanted for all this to be at an end but if Sho could only somehow make him see that there was much still to grasp on to by living, that each day did not have to be a constant torment for the both of them.

As Sho mulled this over, he felt himself becoming more and more panicked. Kei was so ill and he just didn't know what to do for the best. He knew that forcing Kei to feed wouldn't help for the vampire would only resent Sho for it and he knew that no amount of begging and pleading was going to work this time.

_I can't…_

Sho did not think of himself as an overly romantic person. Indeed, being a typical guy, he wasn't the type to wear his heart on his sleeve and neither was Kei but Sho had always wanted to meet someone one day and when he had realised that he had been living with the person that he loved all along, Sho's emotions had been all over the place.

Inevitably, he had thought of the obvious, that he was human and that Kei was a vampire and that one-day he would die, thus leaving Kei alone. This fact pained Sho, even more so because there was nothing that he could do about it, only Kei had that power. More than once in his life, Sho had contemplated what it must be like to be immortal and have all eternity stretching out in front of you. Of course, as he had gotten older and saw Kei's pain, he realised that even the immortal weren't free from suffering and even Kei could die, albeit only by his own choosing.

Sho had wanted to act upon his feelings for Kei for a long time but he was also afraid that it might make things worse somehow. He was not of the illusion that he would confess his feelings and that this would make Kei want to start feeding again. If anything it would hurt Kei more so Sho had kept his silence. It was only over the last few weeks that he was finding it more and more difficult to do so. Especially now when he was seized by moments of desperation and fear.

"Kei?" He was drawn from these thoughts when he heard a soft groan coming from the vampire.

Although his eyes remained closed, Sho could tell that he was now conscious. Kei's fingers dug tightly into the blanket beneath him and his head turned to one side, the frown on his face betraying his pain.

"Kei?" Sho repeated, moving closer still to the bed and tentatively reaching out to touch Kei's arm.

This touch was enough to force his eyes to open. His gaze remained locked on Sho's face until, gradually, his trembling ceased and his expression relaxed.

"W-where are we?" He asked, his voice surprisingly steady despite his pain of before.

"We reached Toshi's friend's place," Sho explained quietly, knowing that worry leaked into his voice even though he tried his best to force it down.

Kei nodded and pushed himself up into a sitting position. Swallowing hard, Sho knew that he had to approach the subject that was causing them both so much pain.

"About before… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pushed you," he began, "but I don't understand… I don't understand why you can't feed."

Kei turned his head away, his voice steady and almost unfeeling as he replied: "You wouldn't. You're human."

"You say that as though you hate me for it," Sho accused sadly. "I'm just trying to help you."

"I don't hate you, you're being melodramatic."

"Then what is it? Why can't you feed?"

"It doesn't matter. What matters is protecting you and the others."

"And how can you do that if you're like this?"

"I can manage," Kei answered determinedly, "I have before."

"That's not good enough."

"Well it will have to be."

Sho leapt up as his fear and concern for the vampire went spiralling out of control. "Why are you torturing both of us like this? Why are you forcing yourself to the point of collapse? If you truly wanted to die then you'd have gone and done it by now. There is another reason for this and I just don't understand what that is!"

Kei sighed and shook his head, almost sadly, although his eyes remained as unreadable as ever. He did not speak and, in his haste to gain a response, he reached forward and grasped the slender man by the shoulders. Kei's skin felt cold beneath his fingertips and to Sho he felt even frailer at this moment. It was agonising and he couldn't shake the feeling that Kei was slowly slipping away from him.

In a reverse of roles, he found himself pulling Kei to him, holding onto him as though he might disappear at any given moment.

_Stay with me… I'm scared and I need you… I love you…_

These feelings were such that he couldn't bring himself to voice and when he finally found it within himself to part them, he could already feel Kei's arms moving up to around his shoulders and then a soft hand entangling itself in his braids, whilst the other laid flat against the side of his neck, feeling the pulse there.

"Kei?" The name almost died on his lips when he saw the expression on the vampire's face. It was the look that Sho had only seen a couple of times before; the reverence that Kei portrayed right before a feed.

Hope surged within Sho as the vampire leaned forward, replacing his hand with his lips, his tongue flickering out and tasting Sho's warm skin. He was frightened, this he couldn't deny, but if he could help Kei… he forced all his fears down and simply waited, allowing himself to relax into Kei's arms as he awaited the inevitable.

However, it was not to be.

At that moment the door crashed open but Kei, having heard the soft footsteps outside, had moved before Shinji could figure out exactly what might have been going on.

The hunger in Kei's eyes faded and was replaced by a look of utter dismay and self-loathing when he realised just how close he'd come to feeding on the one person who meant so much to him. He opened his mouth to say something but Shinji got there first.

"I just came in to say I'm leaving. Now."

"Leaving?" Sho repeated, "What are you talking about? You can't leave, Nii-chan."

"Why not? We're sitting ducks here, Sho. We need to get out of Mallepa now. If we wait until nightfall then we're just throwing away the lead that we have."

"No," Sho shook his head, "you can't Nii-chan."

"Why not?" Shinji repeatedly challenged. "Would you try to stop me?"

"Yeah," Sho said without hesitation, "we have to stick together."

"You'd be with me if it wasn't for that monster," Shinji glared reproachfully at Kei, who was looking increasingly agitated by the passing moment.

Without saying another word, Sho grabbed Shinji by the arm and forced him from the room. He dragged him down the corridor and to the front room, before shutting the door behind them. He had, had enough of Shinji's attitude towards Kei and Sho was furious that his brother seemed prepared to make his feelings so well known to the vampire.

"Nii-chan, stop it," Sho started, cutting over Shinji's anger at being treated like this. "I know you're scared but we have to wait until dark. Kei can protect us and--"

"Protect us? Look at him! He can barely stand! I know you feel some kind of misguided loyalty to him but I'm thinking about what is best for us. We _have _to get out of here whilst we still have the chance. Surely even Kei can see that?"

"Kei has a plan--"

"No," it was Shinji's turn to cut Sho off now, "I'm not waiting around any longer. I'm going and you can't stop me."

The fear of losing his brother was almost paralysing and Sho, in his desperation, felt his anger flaring to the surface once again. "What if you're caught? They'll force you to reveal our hideout, too. You'll get us all killed! Don't be so stupid and just remember that this is your fault to begin with!"

"My fault?" Shinji snapped out, now equally as furious as Sho. "You're the one who shot Xiong. Your hot-headedness got us into this mess if anything."

"You're the one who can't live through the day without his hit."

"And why do you think that is?"

"I don't know," Sho was forced to admit quietly and he felt a pang at Shinji's tone. He hated fighting with his brother and he missed the old Shinji so much. Ever since he had started using he had become a different person. Shinji used to be someone whom Sho admired and wanted to be like but now when he looked at him, the man looking back was pitiful and, at times, Sho hated him for abandoning him for the drugs.

"Well let me tell you then. It was you. You forced me to turn to this."

"Me? Nii-chan, I don't understand…"

"We were fine; you, Toshi and me. I looked after us well enough and then he came along."

"Kei? He saved our lives, Nii-chan. Kei looked after us."

"He took you away from me. I became obsolete in your eyes. Because of my leg I couldn't protect you anymore but you'd already found someone else for that hadn't you? Even now you'd choose him over me any day. I can see it in your eyes. You'd rather be with him right now than have this conversation with me!"

"Shinji, please--"

"The truth's hard to hear isn't it? Well let me tell you something else. Do you think I haven't noticed the way you look at him? It's very obvious that you're in _love _with him and that sickens me. I'm leaving and you can't stop me. In fact, I don't want anything more to do with either of you. Ever."

With those words, Shinji stormed from the room and, moments later, Sho heard the door of the apartment slam shut but Sho didn't make a move to stop him. He couldn't move. Shinji's words had cut deep and he could even feel tears welling up in his eyes although Sho stubbornly did his best to force them back down.

_I don't want anything more to do with either of you. Ever_

Stunned and hurt, Sho looked back down the corridor and at Kei's room. He wondered if the vampire had heard any of this. He hoped not, for Kei's sake. In the past, Sho would go to Kei now for reassurance but right now he felt almost guilty for wanting Kei's comfort.

Fumbling in his pocket for his cigarettes and lighter, Sho realised that he was trembling and it took him a couple of minutes to light one of the sticks. He was about to put it to his lips when the front door banged again.

"Sho? Kei?" Toshi burst into the front room, looking panicked. Appearing not to notice Sho's pained expression, Toshi continued, "I've just had a text message from Son. Chan's goons were round at his place and roughed him up really badly. They were looking for us."

_You're the one who shot Xiong. Your hot-headedness got us into this mess if anything_

"Sho?" Toshi prompted when his friend didn't respond to this news at all. "What is it? What's happened?"

"Shinji's gone," Sho answered him whilst trying to keep his voice steady.

"Gone? What do you mean gone?"

"He's left. He's going to try his luck on his own."

"He'll be killed!" Toshi's eyes widened with horror. "Chan's men are all over the city, that's why dumping the car took me so long. I have to take several detours on my way back here. When did he leave?"

"A few minutes ago."

"I'm going to look for him," Toshi surprised Sho by answering and he was already halfway back out the door before Sho could process this action, "Stay here with Kei. I'll call you when I've found him."

"Toshi--" Sho began to protest but his friend was already gone.

_Even now you'd choose him over me any day_

Sho felt numb. He felt as though he could hardly breathe. All this… it was his fault. He was to blame for everything and this time, when he felt tears building up in his eyes, he did nothing to stop them from falling.

* * *

Kei was shaking as he listened to the argument between the brothers. Just moments ago he had been overcome with horror at what he had nearly done, how he had nearly fed from his best friend but now his agony ran much deeper. Despite Kei not having much time for Shinji, he couldn't stand the idea of Sho losing his brother and that he was somehow to blame for this was more than he could take. Everything was falling apart around them. He had looked after all of them, they had become his family and now that family was breaking up and all because of him. Perhaps it would have been better if he had just left that day? Kei just didn't know. He felt so weak and yet he still couldn't bring himself to feed. Each time he tried he just thought of all the people he had killed and all the suffering that he had caused. It had been the same for Luka, too, at the end.

It was beginning to become too much for him, Kei knew. He'd had enough now. His plan to save Sho had been a very simple one. Sho couldn't take on Chan and survive but Kei could. He was confident that he could get close enough to kill the man and his closest allies. The others were weak-willed and would find a new leader, one who cared little for Chan's disputes. It was ironic how Kei lamented so upon the dead that he had fed from but he had no qualms about killing if it meant ensuring that Sho had a future.

This was why he hadn't told Sho of this. It was, in truth, a suicide mission and Kei didn't want his friend following him. Recent events, together with Shinji's revelation had been too much for him. He had been selfish; it was now time to let Sho live his own life. Kei should have known better than to think that he could live happily among people and befriend them. Luka had tried and it had ended up costing Kei everything. If Sho was dying, Kei wasn't sure if he could stand by and watch the man he loved fade away. History would repeat itself and, eventually, Sho would be the one who was left on his own.

"The truth's hard to hear isn't it? Well let me tell you something else."

Shinji was still ranting but Kei now tuned this out. He couldn't stand to listen to it anymore. He knew that he should probably intervene yet he couldn't bring himself too. Moments later his heightened senses told him that Shinji had left the apartment. The scent of Sho's tears were strong in the air and Kei wanted to go to him but this time he did not. For now he was the selfish one.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: Missing**

_"Well when you see Sho next perhaps you could pass on a message to him for us?"_

Son winced as Yi-Che dabbed at the gash above his right eye with a piece of cloth. She was being as gentle as she could be but still it stung and Son gritted his teeth against the pain that flared up and shot down the side of his face. Upon waking, the first thing that he had done was to call Toshi and warn him. The other man hadn't seemed surprised, although he had been reluctant to tell Son anything. It was probably for the best. Chan's men had given him quite a beating and he hadn't known anything. Had he have known Sho and the other's whereabouts then he could only suppose that worse would have been in store for him, and Yi-Che, too.

Although she hid it behind a façade of concern, Son knew that the men's presence had terrified his sister, having been subjected to a vicious rape by thugs from the same gang, and Son had felt more than a flash of anger at Sho and the others for putting them in this situation.

Of course, that was why they had left without a word, Son reminded himself, to protect the two of them. Toshi had not said where they were but Son could tell that he was very afraid, even though they had Kei with them. Kei was more than a match for Chan and his gang, but lately… Son would have had to be blind not to see that the vampire was sickening, both in body and spirit. Kei had become despondent and brooding, even more so than usual. Both Sho and Kei had tried to hide this but Kei's weakness had become more apparent, especially that night at the beach. Son doubted whether Kei was in a fit state to protect anyone now and this gave him more than a little concern. If Kei couldn't protect them then Sho and the others were as good as dead. No matter how skilled at fighting Sho was he couldn't hope to hold off all the men that Chan had at his disposal.

What had they done to incur Chan's wrath so dramatically? Again, Toshi had been cagey and Son had been reluctant to ask. It couldn't have been the jobs for surely Chan would have come after Son and Yi-Che, too? Something else had happened and Son knew that he wouldn't be able to rest until he found out what it was. He had to help them somehow but Yi-Che had been insistent that he allowed her to tend to his wounds first. She had even wanted him to go to a hospital but Son had refused. He had plenty of Taiwanese contacts that secretly hated Chan and if he could put in a call to one of them then he might be able to get Sho some help. As it was his friends were almost helpless. Their only hope would be to get out of the city and even this would be difficult for Chan was not stupid and would realise this, too.

Finally, as the minutes went by, Son was unable to bear it anymore. Gently brushing Yi-Che's hand away he managed to convince her to allow him to make a quick call. He had to find out what was going on at least and only then could he try to help his friends.

* * *

"_Shinji's gone," _

"_Gone? What do you mean gone?"_

"_He's left. He's going to try his luck on his own."_

"_He'll be killed! Chan's men are all over the city, that's why dumping the car took me so long. I have to take several detours on my way back here. When did he leave?"_

"_A few minutes ago."_

"_I'm going to look for him. Stay here with Kei. I'll call you when I've found him."_

Toshi always liked to think of himself as very laid back and therefore he did not allow himself to get angry or show anger that often but right now he was furious. He left the apartment hideout before Sho could stop him and before he could let his anger be known. Toshi was not as ignorant as Sho and Shinji sometimes thought he was. He knew full well that there was a lot of unsaid hostility between the brothers and he also knew that Kei was the cause of this conflict. He also knew that Sho's feelings for Kei ran deeper than just friendship. This didn't upset or disgust Toshi in slightest. In fact he felt kind of sad for the both of them for Kei would never quite be human, not matter how hard he tried to appear so.

This current situation was Shinji's fault if anything. Sho had just been trying to protect his brother and Toshi knew that he would have done the same had their roles been reversed. He wasn't angry with Sho for that but the fact that Sho had just let Shinji leave. No matter how many harsh words were spoken, Sho should not have let Shinji go off like that. Not only was he putting himself in great danger but them all if he was caught.

Toshi had never been that close to Shinji but, before Kei came into their lives, Shinji had looked after both him and Sho, and Toshi saw him as an older brother of sorts. Toshi knew the dangers but he would never forgive himself if he just let Shinji leave without at least trying to find him.

As it was he had been searching the streets for forty minutes now and there was still no sign of him.

Toshi tried to keep his head down as he walked, keeping mainly to the busy streets and hoping that the commuters would keep him hidden. There were many different languages being spoken around him and each time he heard a Chinese male's voice it instantly put Toshi on edge. So Toshi allowed his mind to wander, choosing instead to focus on what had happened between Sho and Shinji on this occasion.

Toshi had arrived back too late to hear any of the conversation but he could hazard a guess that they had been fighting again. Tempers were frayed as it was and both the brothers were of a similar temperament so a clash was almost inevitable, but Sho had looked very upset and Toshi was regretting his haste to leave the apartment lest Sho decide to do something stupid.

Kei was there, Toshi reminded himself and Kei wouldn't let anything happen to Sho.

_He can't feed_

The younger man shivered at the recollection of those words. He didn't understand what they meant and it was clear that Sho didn't either. One thing, however, Toshi was certain, was that Kei's lack of feeding would be the undoing of them all.

Toshi sighed to himself, feeling almost overwhelmed by the frustration of it all. Kei had no qualms with shooting those guys but when it came to feeding he suddenly couldn't bring himself to do it. Toshi did not understand this at all. Of course, drinking a person's blood was completely different, Toshi reminded himself. For people, the concept was inhuman and he supposed Kei's mindset was still partly that of a persons too. A great deal of humanity still resided inside of Kei and Toshi occasionally wondered if that was the greater curse that the vampire suffered.

He had become so lost in his thoughts that Toshi suddenly realised that he had wandered away from the crowded areas. Cursing himself for such a stupid move, Toshi hurriedly started to move away from the distinctly Taiwanese looking district when a familiar figure caught his eye.

Shinji was doing his best to keep to the crowded areas, too, but wearing his brightly coloured shirt he looked almost painfully conspicuous. Much to Toshi's horror, he could tell that Shinji was still furiously angry and, from the stumbling in his walk, either drunk or high. People were moving away from him, obviously trying to give him a wide birth and Toshi knew it was only a matter of time before he was found.

Pushing his way forward, much to Toshi's relief, he quickly made it to Shinji's side. Dismayed, he realised that his friend was very much out of it and Toshi hurriedly wrapped an arm over Shinji's shoulders to steady him whilst his free hand snatched up the empty bottle of Sake that Shinji was carrying.

"How much have you had?" Toshi demanded angrily whilst trying to steer him back into the crowded main street.

"Just a few…" Shinji mumbled, evidently annoyed with Toshi for some reason.

"Why? What the hell are you playing at? You could have got us all killed!"

"There's no point… no point in anything anymore…" Shinji stumbled again, almost taking Toshi down with him this time. "Might as well get wasted before they find us. Maybe it won't hurt as much if…" Shinji trailed off as Toshi cut in with:

"You're an idiot, you know that, Shinji? Now come on. I'm going to take you back to the apartment. Hopefully there you can sober up enough before we have to leave."

"No!" Shinji all but snarled out and pulled himself away from Toshi with more force than either of them realised he possessed in his current state. Off-balanced, Toshi fell back into one of the market stools that had been set up on the side of the street. The seller shouted out angrily as baskets and goods went flying and Toshi apologised hurriedly in Chinese as he assisted her in retrieving the things that had fallen.

This could only have taken him a few minutes at the most but when Toshi turned back round he was dismayed to find that Shinji had gone.

* * *

Chan had always thought of himself as a reserved man. That he could remain calm and seemingly cold hearted no matter what the situation but as he sat at his son's bedside, he was finding it increasingly hard to retain that reputation that had earned him the fear and respect of most of Mallepa's resident population.

He had been at the hospital all night and now well into the day.

When Chan had first heard what had happened it had left him feeling cold inside. He had issued the necessary orders; that those responsible be found and that he would deal with them personally. It had been a routine collection from one of the Japanese users, or so Chan had been told, but Xiong must have let his guard down.

For Chan, family deaths were something he had learned to deal with but this was worse for he only had two sons.

Xiong had known the dangers but had wanted to prove himself and thus Chan had entrusted that side of things to him. Xiong had a wife and she was carrying his child. Chan's own wife was comforting her now whilst her husband only spoke of revenge.

The bullet that had struck his son had not been a fatal one but Chan wished dearly that this had been the case. The surgeons were the best that money could buy in Mallepa and had worked all night on removing the bullet that had been lodged in Xiong's spine but it had shattered on impact. Xiong, even if he made a full recovery, would never walk again.

It almost seemed surreal to Chan, this waiting and this hoping. He didn't even know what he hoped for anymore. Whether it was for his son to die or for a miracle to take place. However, one thing Chan did know for certain was that those responsible would suffer for it and he intended to make their punishment drag out for as long and as agonisingly as possible so that they begged for death. Only that would come close to the pain that Chan knew Xiong would have to deal with for the rest of his life.

* * *

"_The truth's hard to hear isn't it? Well let me tell you something else. Do you think I haven't noticed the way you look at him? It's very obvious that you're in __love__ with him and that sickens me. I'm leaving and you can't stop me. In fact, I don't want anything more to do with either of you. Ever."_

Sho paused outside of the bedroom door, his hand poised to knock but he just couldn't bring himself to, not with Shinji's venomous words still at the forefront of his mind. It had been nearly an hour since Toshi left and Sho was starting to worry. To make matters worse, his friend wasn't answering his phone and Sho was fast becoming convinced that something had happened to him.

To run from a fight was not something that Sho was used to at all and the fact that this was one occasion where he couldn't storm to the rescue frustrated and frightened him.

He wished that Kei would pull himself together enough to help but the vampire hadn't come out of his room. Sho knew how guilty Kei must feel having come so close to feeding from his only real friend and Sho also knew that he had to make Kei understand that it didn't bother him, that he would have gladly given Kei his blood if it meant that the vampire would cease in his self-starvation. Yet such serious words between them were not often spoken and so Sho found it incredibly difficult to know where to start.

As it turned out, he didn't have to. Just as he was about to force himself to knock on the door it opened. They both looked taken aback to be face to face with the other but Kei hid it well and slipped passed Sho and went into the small kitchen.

Following the vampire, Sho saw that Kei was leaning back against the counter. His mind appeared to be elsewhere and Sho wasn't sure how to begin the conversation. Never before had he felt so awkward and unsure around the only person whom he usually felt confident enough to be himself around and Sho didn't like it at all. He supposed that it was the events of before and the fact that Shinji had voiced the feelings that Sho had for Kei out aloud. Had Kei heard this? Sho hoped not. He hadn't had many girlfriends in the past and none that he really cared about. Toshi had, had a few and even had his heart trampled on. Sho had seen how cut up his friend had been and if Kei did the same to Sho, he knew that he would never get over it.

_These feelings were such that he couldn't bring himself to voice and when he finally found it within himself to part them, he could already feel Kei's arms moving up to around his shoulders and then a soft hand entangling itself in his braids, whilst the other laid flat against the side of his neck, feeling the pulse there. _

"_Kei?" The name almost died on his lips when he saw the expression on the vampire's face. It was the look that Sho had only seen a couple of times before; the reverence that Kei portrayed right before a feed._

Shivering, Sho moved further into the kitchen and finally started the conversation with: "How're you feeling now?"

"Better, thanks" this was a lie but Sho did not press the issue.

"Nii-chan's gone," Sho said next, unsure of how much of the conversation Kei had heard. "Toshi's gone to look for him," he added when this brought about little response.

"How long ago was this?"

"Nearly an hour," Sho admitted uncomfortably. "I tried calling him," he added as an after thought.

"When he comes back, you need to leave," Kei said to this.

"Leave?" Sho repeated, casting a glance out of the window as he did so. "Kei, it's still light outside."

"I'm not coming with you."

"Is this because of what Shinji said? You shouldn't pay any attention to him."

"It's not because of him," Kei answered with a sigh.

"Then what is it? We can't leave you here. If Chan's men find you…"

Kei met Sho's gaze and held it and suddenly the vampire's 'plan' became crystal clear in Sho's mind.

"Kei, you can't take on an entire gang, not on your own. You're too weak."

"I'm fine."

"You've collapsed twice already! They'll kill you if you fight them alone."

"I can't die, Sho," Kei gently reminded him. "Not like that at least…"

Sho swallowed hard to force down the lump that had formed in his throat. For some reason he couldn't shake off the feeling that he was going to say goodbye to Kei for the last time, that the vampire did not intend to return to him after this.

"We're a team," Sho said stubbornly, "If you're staying then I'm staying too."

"You'd only hinder me," Kei answered a little coldly, "I don't want to worry about protecting you as well."

"You don't need to protect me," Sho snapped defensively, "I can look after myself."

"Like you did the other night," Kei reminded him.

"We wouldn't have gotten into this mess if you have been conscious," Sho shot back angrily.

That struck a nerve and Kei's expression softened just before he turned away. "I'm tired, Sho," he murmured with a sigh attached to this, "Living like this… it's starting to get through to me. Please leave. You're right, I should have been there so the least I can do is get you out of this mess."

Sho knew what he was really saying; I can't go on anymore, I want to die.

"Idiot," Sho shouted, the tears that he had previously forced down finally breaking free at Kei's words. "What do I have to say to you to make you see how important you are to me?"

Kei turned to meet Sho's eyes, startled a little by his friend's words.

"I don't want you to go anywhere. I don't want you to _die._"

Without thinking about what he was doing after this, Sho, completely on the spur of the moment, took a step towards Kei so that they were practically touching.

_Just what do I have to say to convince you that you're worth something… that you're everything to me?_

Tentatively, Sho reached out and placed his hands on Kei's bare shoulders, unsure of what he was trying to accomplish by this but needing to touch the vampire, to try and convey some of what he was feeling to Kei.

They locked gazes and in a moment everything seemed to fade. Sho closed his eyes, a small gasp escaping him when he felt Kei's lips against his own. Not before long, his desperate hold on Kei had turned into an embrace as he responded to Kei's kiss.

Trembling under the vampire's dominance of the situation, Sho felt his legs begin to weaken and so he was taken completely off guard when Kei broke the kiss to lean against him.

Holding Kei was still a relatively new experience and Sho wasn't quite sure it was one he would ever get used to, although it was not an unwelcome one. It merely unsettled him a little, that was all, for it was usually the other way round.

"I'm sorry," Kei said shakily and Sho wasn't entirely sure of what he was apologising for.

Kei was still weak and Sho found himself guiding the blonde back into the front room to be seated on the small sofa that was there.

"You _have _to feed," Sho said, his tone making it clear that he would heed no arguments.

"It's too late now," Kei admitted quietly, "I've left it too long."

"And you thought you could take out a whole gang," Sho lightly swatted the vampire round the head, "baka. I'll go and find you someone."

"You can't," Kei shook his head, "it's not safe for you to go out. They'll be looking for you."

"Then you can have…?" Sho let the rest of the sentence hang for they both knew what he was saying.

"No," Kei refused immediately, "I won't be able to stop… I'd take too much."

"Then we'll go tonight. I don't care about the dangers, so don't go trying to talk me out of it."

The tension between them had somehow been dispelled by that heated kiss but neither of them could bring himself to talk about it, it would seem.

Sho sat down beside Kei, staring at the wall opposite as his mind turned over what would happen now. He had always loved Kei but he had never even thought it possible that Kei saw him as anything more than a friend. Now he was left feeling unsure. Sho had expected protests from Kei, mainly along the lines of his lack of humanity, none of which mattered to Sho but did so a great deal to Kei.

None of this, however, had been forthcoming and Sho didn't know what to do for the best. They could ignore it. It would become another unspoken memory, yet he did not want things to be this way for there would then be that subtle awkwardness between them and Sho would never forgive himself if this ruined things between them.

What did Kei want? It had been Kei who had initiated the kiss, Sho was sure of. Allured by the close proximity of the vampire, Sho's recollection of the moment before the kiss was hazy but he was sure that it was Kei's actions that started it. Why had he done that? Sho couldn't answer this. All he knew was that the desperation of their position was starting to get through to the both of them.

Had that been all it was between them? A frantic attempt to seek a little comfort in the fear of the situation that they had found themselves in? Sho could not bear to suffer rejection at Kei's hands, hence he had held his silence on the matter for so long but being alone together like this, still very much caught in the moment, Sho knew that such an opportunity might never come about again.

"Kei," Sho started, his voice a lot shakier than it had been moments before, "I love you."

The look that Kei gave him was so full of dismay that Sho immediately wished that he could take back those words for the gap between them had instantly been widened by that forbidden sentence.

"You can't love a monster," Kei answered him quietly, his voice heavy with regret and pain and thus Sho did nothing to stop him from getting up and exiting the room, and once again, Sho was left alone.

* * *

_You can't love a monster_

Kei regretted leaving Sho alone and he hated his inability to voice anything more than his pain-filled words. His state of mind was worsening and Kei glanced impulsively at the curtains that shielded the sun's harmful gaze. It would be so easy, indeed it was tempting, to pull the damn things down and be done with it, but then Sho would bear witness to it and Kei did not want that. His dreams were still haunted by Luka's end and it was something that Kei had no desire for Sho to ever see.

It had been his weakness that had initiated that kiss. Sho was so desperate and Kei just felt so dejected that he had allowed himself this one selfish action. It was selfish and for Sho to then bare his heart so openly was like a dagger in Kei's own.

_I love you_

Kei wanted to return those sentiments but to do so would be the ultimate selfish act when he knew that he would bring Sho nothing but pain. To say that Sho's words had, had a positive effect in battling his inner torment would not be a lie, but Kei had sunk deeper into despair than Sho could possibly understand and no mere words could bring him out of it.

_Then we'll go tonight. I don't care about the dangers, so don't go trying to talk me out of it_

Sho still didn't understand that Kei had gone beyond the hunger now. True, the vampire screamed for blood and would eventually unleash itself to gain it by whatever means necessary but Kei's state of mind had crushed it… for now at least. Kei knew that if the vampire was given a chance to come to the surface then there was little he could do. Self-preservation had been its only concern so Luka had warned Kei so long ago.

Luka… Kei missed him more as the years passed by. Luka saved his life but taken away his humanity in the same instant. Yet Kei had not hated him. Yes, he had hated what Luka had turned him into but he had never hated the man whom he had befriended, the man whom he had _loved. _

Luka had left him alone.

Until Sho that was.

Slowly Kei could feel himself becoming unravelled and the fact that he nearly fed from the younger man cut into him deeper than Sho himself could ever imagine.

Then Sho had offered and, without hesitation, Kei had refused. He knew without question that should he give into the vampire now then Sho would die.

It was the first time in a long while that Kei had felt so unsure and this did little to help ease his current state of mind. He felt as though he was teetering on the edge and anything more would push him completely over it.

_What do I have to say to you to make you see how important you are to me? I don't want you to go anywhere. I don't want you to die._

Kei recalled Sho's desperate words with a pang of guilt for making his friend suffer so much. He didn't want to hurt Sho, this was the last thing he wanted to do, but Kei knew that he might well be left without a choice.

He moved slowly over to the bed and lay down upon it once more. As much as he hated to do so, he knew that he had to sleep, that he had to conserve his strength for tonight.

_And you thought you could take out a whole gang_

As he was now, with his humanity in control, Kei knew that Sho was right but it wasn't the human side of him that would be dealing with Chan and his gang.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: Trapped**

_You're an idiot, you know that, Shinji? Now come on. I'm going to take you back to the apartment. Hopefully there you can sober up enough before we have to leave_

Shinji stumbled down the streets, ignoring the looks he gained from people as he did so. He wasn't sure how he had managed to get away from Toshi due to the amount of alcohol that he had already consumed that day but at this point he was in such a state that he didn't care. Shinji had just wanted the pain to stop and for all the anger and hurt that he was feeling inside of go away and this seemed like the best solution to him.

"_He took you away from me. I became obsolete in your eyes. Because of my leg I couldn't protect you anymore but you'd already found someone else for that hadn't you? Even now you'd choose him over me any day. I can see it in your eyes. You'd rather be with him right now than have this conversation with me!" _

"_Shinji, please--"_

"_The truth's hard to hear isn't it? Well let me tell you something else. Do you think I haven't noticed the way you look at him? It's very obvious that you're in love with him and that sickens me. I'm leaving and you can't stop me. In fact, I don't want anything more to do with either of you. Ever."_

In truth, Shinji hated himself for his outburst. The memory of his brother's crushed expression was almost too much to bear and Shinji didn't even know why he had said such things. Granted they were true and were very much how felt but all he had wanted was to open Sho's eyes and for him to see Kei for the monster that he really was. They had been a family, him, Sho and Toshi, before Kei had come into their lives and Shinji had missed that. He had missed his brother and now he hated himself for what he had done and the situation that he had created.

It was his fault. His debts with Chan had caused all this and now Chan wanted Sho dead. Shinji knew that he had to put this right somehow but he didn't know where to begin and so he had done what he always did. He had lashed out at all around him and left, getting himself wasted and thus taking long strides down the road to self-destruction.

The sad truth was that Shinji couldn't see any way to end this. Even if, by some miracle, they made it through this, he knew that he would go back to the drugs. There was nothing else for him. Getting high was simply the easier option.

Moving down the street now, Shinji wasn't even sure where he was going. A part of him had wanted to go with Toshi and another part, the part that had won out, had resisted it. No doubt Sho would have told Kei of his brother's outburst and Shinji just couldn't face going back. He had lost Sho this time, that much was for sure.

Shinji was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he almost jumped out of his skin when he bumped into someone. Uttering a half-hearted apology, he attempted to side step whoever was blocking his way but he walked straight into another person.

Looking up, Shinji took in the two smartly dressed Chinese men with an equal amount of fear and acceptance. He knew without a doubt that these were high-ranking members of Chan's gang – only his most trusted associates wore suits. The casually dressed punks that they had, had to deal with in the past were nothing in comparison to these guys.

They obviously wanted Shinji to go with them without a fuss and, for a moment, he contemplated making a break for it, but what was the point? He had nothing to go back to. Sho probably wouldn't even care if he was dead.

_You'd rather be with him right now than have this conversation with me!_

Kei… this was all down to him… Shinji felt hatred surge through him again at the thought of the vampire and how he had come between him and Sho. If Kei weren't around then perhaps he and Sho could start again, become proper brothers again.

Shinji offered no resistance to the men that flanked him and then led him away.

He had nothing left to lose now.

* * *

Jian observed, in silence, the Japanese man knelt on the ground before him. His face was bowed and blood dripped from a gash over his right eye and splashed onto the wooden floor. Jian's lip curled a little in disgust and irritation at this and he had to remind himself that he was carrying out his father's wishes, no matter what his feelings to contrary were.

Jian was not distraught and out for revenge as Chan was. If the truth were known, Jian was actually glad that this had happened. Being the younger son, he would never have inherited his father's position and power; that would have gone to Xiong. Xiong had been the favourite, he always had been and Jian was the failure. Jian was not as smart or strong as his older brother and therefore had always been sidelined. At twenty-two, all he had to show from his life was a failed relationship and a child that he couldn't see. His ex-partner had immigrated back to Japan and had taken their daughter with her.

Even Jian's small empire that he had carved out for himself was in ruins; the Japanese kids had seen to that. His men weren't planners and didn't have the intelligence to hit back against the raids and Chan, furious at how this was going to be perceived, had taken control from Jian and again he was sidelined. Still, Chan had fared little better and the raids had continued and the death toll had continued to rise. This had pleased Jian for he wanted to see his father fail. Then he had gotten the call about Xiong.

This was Jian's chance to prove himself. With Xiong's condition not likely to improve, Jian had a chance to surpass him, to take his place as the favourite and heir to everything that their father had accomplished. Everyone would look to him to lead them in future and it all hinged upon the Japanese man at his feet, the Japanese man who had, so far, refused to utter a word as to the whereabouts of his comrades.

Brotherly affection was something that Jian could understand, although he did not feel any towards Xiong, but he had to force Shinji to talk. The others had to be dealt with or else his father would look unfavourably upon Jian yet again.

Furiously, he had ordered that his men leave him and he had been trying to coax the man into divulging any kind of information. He had offered him pain, wealth, and power, but nothing had loosened his tongue.

Kneeling down before him now, Jian grabbed a fistful of dark hair and wrenched his head back, forcing Shinji to look at him once more. Jian could feel his father's gaze upon him and knew that he could not afford to make any mistakes, not this time.

"My men could have you begging for death," he growled in Chinese, knowing that Shinji could understand him. "They could take you apart piece by piece with such skill that would leave you conscious until the end."

Shinji spat at this statement and Jian bit back rage as he felt a mixture of blood and salvia wet his face.

"Tell us where your friends are and we'll let you go. We'll even call off your debt. Think about it, you could still get out of this alive."

"And betray my brother?" Shinji shot back in Japanese, "Never."

"Your brother has caused suffering to my own. Surely if you were in my place would want revenge? I won't ask you again.

Shinji chuckled at this, although it came out as a low rasping sound and he spat again, this time to rid blood from his mouth.

"You'll never get near Sho," he answered through gritted teeth as Jian grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him roughly. "Your revenge will end in slaughter."

Jian raised a hand and struck him, knocking Shinji back down onto the tiled floor. "What do you mean by that?" He demanded in a low voice that made the underlying threat in his tone crystal clear.

"Exactly that," Shinji met Jian's gaze and the vicious look he gave him almost caused the Chinese to shiver. "You try to hurt Sho and you'll die."

"You are in no position to make such threats."

Shinji laughed again at this and shook his head. "Not me…"

"Who?"

"It doesn't matter who he is, it's what he is that should concern you."

Jian was growing tired of Shinji's tirade and, with further impatience, he called his men back into the room as he knelt down before the Japanese man. "You will talk," he hissed dangerously. "You will talk before I have you screaming and begging for death."

* * *

Toshi had, very reluctantly, headed back to the apartment where he found that the situation between Sho and Kei hadn't improved; in fact things were decidedly worse.

Toshi found Sho in the front room, brooding and smoking cigarette after cigarette. He barely reacted to the news that Toshi had been unsuccessful in finding Shinji. Kei was in the bedroom, sleeping, Toshi had found when he had looked in on him.

The rest of the day had passed painfully slowly. Toshi was filled with worry for all of them and that Shinji had somehow been caught. Of course, had this been true then Chan's men would have already been at their door. Still this brought him little comfort. He had tried to make Sho understand that they had to leave, now, but the younger man seemed to have gone into complete shut down and wasn't responding to much of what Toshi was trying to tell him.

"What's wrong with you?" Toshi had demanded finally, feeling exasperated and more than a little afraid. Sho had shouted back, telling Toshi to mind his own business before lapsing into silence again.

Unable to settle, Toshi spent the next couple of hours pacing up and down and attempting to make conversation with Sho. His friend, however, was not interested in small talk and Toshi finally slumped down in a chair and fell into an uneasy sleep.

It was dark when he awoke.

"How many?" Sho was asking, his tone deadly serious and it was this that immediately drew Toshi into complete wakefulness.

"Hard to tell. Twenty perhaps more," Kei answered from his position by the window.

The vampire was looking out down to the street below. Behind him, Sho was already gathering up weapons.

"We've dealt with that many before," he stated quietly. "We can take them."

"No," Kei said to this, "it's too risky."

"Why not?"

"You and Toshi need to get out of here. I'll take care of things."

"Not this again," Sho's tone immediately switched to one of anger. "We're a team, Kei."

"This isn't a local gang we're dealing with, these men are Chan's best and they want you dead."

"I know that," Sho snapped back. "But you're weak… how can you fight them all?"

"I can keep them distracted long enough for you to get clear."

Sho threw up his hands in frustration and stalked back towards Kei's position by the window. Concerned, Toshi followed him. Whatever they were going to do, they were wasting time and, as much as Toshi didn't want to leave Kei behind anymore than Sho did, the vampire's plan made sense. In any case, Sho was forgetting that Kei was immortal but they weren't.

"Any minute now they're going to have the building surrounded," Toshi pointed out. "We need to go. Now."

As he said this, a man looked up and spotted them. A shout went up and Toshi jumped back from the window as a spray of bullets showered around them.

He hit the floor landing painfully on his right shoulder. Wincing at the shooting pain that accompanied this fall, Toshi forced himself to roll to the side of the window nearest the door.

Looking up as silence fell upon the room, Toshi saw Kei and Sho crouched down the other side of the window. He also saw blood on the carpet.

"Sho?" Toshi gasped when he saw his friend clutching at his left arm.

"It's okay…" Sho tried to brush Kei aside when the vampire hurriedly tore off a strip from the bottom of his white shirt. Leaning forward as much as he dared, Kei wrapped the strips of cloth tightly around the wound. Toshi didn't like the way that Kei's gaze stayed on the blood for a little too long but before he could comment on it, Kei tore himself away.

"We need to move," he said quietly, taking the lead. "Keep low and follow me. Sho, keep pressure on that wound or you'll bleed to death."

"Stop being so dramatic," Sho answered, rolling his eyes, "it's just a scratch."

Toshi wasn't sure. It seemed to be bleeding an awful lot for a scratch, but he didn't say anything.

Kei reached out and slipped a gun and clip of bullets from Sho's holster and led the way to the door. Sho went after him, managing to somehow crawl without putting pressure on his injured arm. It was leaking a slow trail of blood after them and this would make them easy to follow, Toshi realised with a chill.

Kei came to a pause by the closed door. "Why are we stopping?" Toshi demanded, fear threatening to get the better of him now.

"There's men on the stairs two floors down," Kei answered in a low voice.

"How many?" Sho asked, automatically reaching for his other gun with his right hand.

"Five, six," Kei frowned, "they're too far away for me to be more accurate."

Kei's enhanced senses never failed to amaze Toshi and, right now, he was very grateful for them.

"They're moving up this way," Kei continued. "When we get out onto the stairwell start going up. I'll keep them off of us long enough for you to get clear."

"What about Nii-chan?" Sho asked, clearly having come to the same conclusion as Toshi about how exactly the men had found them.

"I can't sense him, and you can't worry about him now."

Sho didn't like this but he knew that Kei was right and did not argue.

"Kei?" It was Toshi's turn to question now. "If we go up then we'll be trapped."

"We don't know for certain how many men are in the street," Kei answered, but it was clear that he was at a loss, too.

"Then we'll fight our way out," Sho said with as much determination as ever.

"With you injured? No," Kei shook his head, "just get to the sixth floor."

They were on the forth at the moment.

The vampire very quietly opened the door and ushered them out into the corridor. As they did so the first of the men appeared at the other end. He yelled out something in Chinese but had barely time to draw his gun before Kei was on him.

Toshi had only ever seen Kei fight like this a couple of times before and the sheer power that was demonstrated never failed to shock him. One moment Kei was at their side and the next he had landed on top of the man, pinning him down and knocking the gun from his hand. The man screamed and it was then that Toshi looked away. He had a fair idea of what would happen next and he was sure that it wouldn't be pretty.

Sho hesitated but Toshi, upon hearing gunfire behind them, pushed the younger man ahead of them as they started to climb the stairs. Casting one last glance over his shoulder, Toshi saw six men approaching the cornered vampire. There were a lot more of them that they had anticipated. Kei was right; escape was their only hope now.

* * *

Shinji sagged between the two men, feeling hardly able to hold his head up as Jian addressed him again. A mixture of shame and agony coursed through his battered body. Agony caused by the many wounds that Jian's men had inflicted upon him and shame that he had betrayed his only brother. The pain had been too much and Jian had been unable to listen to reason. He had even ignored his warnings about Kei.

A dark part of Shinji had hoped that perhaps the vampire would be killed in the battle although he knew deep down that such a thing was impossible. The only way that Kei's life could end was by suicide.

Jian had, had his men bring Shinji here to witness the revenge that he intended to exact upon the three men hiding inside although, from the furious expression on the Jian's face, Shinji could tell that things weren't going to plan. They must have met Kei, he thought with a dark humour and it gave him a strange sense of satisfaction to know this and to hear the screams coming from inside the apartment block. It was a bloodied night and more would die before it was over, that Shinji was certain of.

* * *

Kei's stomach churned as he surveyed his handiwork. The remaining two men had retreated, sheer terror etched across their features as they did so. Kei had let them go. As it was, he could feel himself growing weaker and he was forced to lean back against the wall of the stairwell for support.

He could feed, he found himself reasoning. These men were trying to kill Sho so this made it okay and yet he felt unable to bring himself to do it, not when Sho and Toshi were only two floors up waiting for him.

_What use am I in this state? I can't protect them for long like this…_

Kei had withheld the vampire that lurked just below the surface for, when it finally came out and consumed him, he knew that he would kill anyone who got in his way, even Sho. He had to get his two friends away from the apartment and then he could come back and finish the job.

Taking only a few extra seconds to compose himself, Kei broke into run in order to catch up with Sho and Toshi.

To his dismay, they had only made it up one flight of stairs. Sho was leaning against the railing and his face was almost drained of all colour.

Without saying a word, Kei unwrapped the strips of cloth to get a closer look at the wound. Luckily the bullet had exited but had torn through muscle and quite possibly shattered the bone. The blood flow was slower but still coming forth. Sho had been shot before but never a direct hit and Kei was starting to feel frightened.

He shrugged off his red jacket and pulled the remains of his shirt off, wrapping it as tightly as he could around Sho's arm. "Keep pressure on it," he said firmly and Sho nodded weakly, fear reflecting itself in his blue eyes.

Slipping his jacket back around his shoulders, Kei could already hear more men gathering. Evidently the two that he had let escape hadn't had their warnings of a monster heeded. Even if they had, Kei knew that Chan would not care how many men he had to send to their deaths. He wanted revenge and human emotions, especially love and hate, were a powerful thing. In short, Kei knew that Chan would never let this go.

He could now also smell a familiar scent; Shinji. He was hurt although Kei couldn't tell how badly. There was little love lost between Kei and Sho's older brother. Shinji had hated Kei from the beginning and the feeling was more than mutual, still, had it been safe to, Kei would have gone back for the other man. Shinji meant little to him but he meant a great deal to Sho. As it was, Kei couldn't risk it. He had to get Sho and Toshi clear first. Only then could he consider going back for Shinji.

Kei took the few moments pause to reload his gun with the last of the clips. Sho had a fully loaded gun of his own and Kei wanted him to hang onto it for protection. Toshi also had a gun. Their other weapons were back in their apartment. Kei didn't need them but, unknown to the other two, his fangs hadn't retracted after the fight and for someone who was usually in control of his vampire self this was very concerning. Kei didn't know how much longer he could keep it at bay for now.

"Come on," he said, his anxiety creeping into his voice now. "We need to keep moving."

The apartment block had eight floors but Kei didn't intend on taking them to the top. He was hoping that they could double back using the stairs at the rear of the building.

Sho was forced to lean against Toshi for support as they moved. He had protested at first but he was getting weaker and the flow of blood from his wound had not stopped completely. Kei, in truth, wanted to put more distance between them and the remaining men but their pace couldn't be helped. As long as they kept moving, he told himself. That would be enough.

Once they reached the seventh floor, Kei led them along the corridor, now taking the lead as they went towards the back set of stairs. Kei reached the stairwell first and his heart sank. Already he could hear more men below.

"We're trapped," Toshi muttered behind him.

"No," Kei answered, more to try and convince himself than Toshi. Thinking swiftly, Kei tore a piece of the bloodied cloth from Sho's arm and walked quickly over to the stairs leading to the eighth floor. He climbed two steps and carefully let the tattered material fall from his hand and onto the step.

Then, doubling back, he ushered them along the corridor to the first door leading into one of the apartments. Kei forced the door open and stepped into the room. Sho and Toshi followed him but it was clear that both of them had doubts now.

"Go through into there," Kei nodded towards the door leading to the bedroom. "When I hear them all go up to the eighth floor we're going to make a break for it."

"What if there's more men outside?" Toshi questioned. "Shouldn't we hide out until they're gone?"

"They won't give up," Sho answered for Kei. "This is all my fault…" he added in a lower voice.

No, Kei wanted to say, this is Shinji's mess, but he knew that this wouldn't comfort Sho any so instead he reached out with the intention of squeezing Sho's good shoulder reassuringly. However, his hand hovered just above its destination as he recalled their kiss and then his cold words afterwards. Guilt flooded Kei and he let his arm drop back down to his side.

Sho held Kei's gaze and it was only when the footsteps outside grew nearer that Kei was forced to break it. He could now hear voices and they were getting closer and, after a few minutes, they died down again.

Kei, cautiously, opened the door and looked out into the corridor. He could hear the men above them now moving about and searching the remaining floor.

He motioned for Sho and Toshi to follow him and they did so in silence. Doubling back the way that they had come, Kei's mind was now flooded with thoughts of what they would do now. There would be men on the ground floor and outside and they didn't have any transport for means of escape. Kei had vaguely decided upon them trying for the next nearest apartment block and losing the Chinese among the concrete jungle that was outside but this all hinged on them getting clear without being spotted. Kei wasn't sure if this was going to happen.

Then somewhere in his subconscious, he heard the sound of a gun being cocked.

Kei raised his own weapon as the two men came round the corner and he fired quickly, his aim fatal each time. Sho had seen Kei's accuracy many times but for Toshi this kind of callous and cold execution was completely new and he looked, if anything, stunned.

Yet there was no time to comment for the gunfire had attracted the attention of the men above them. There was a yell and then a spray of bullets erupted around them.

They ran, Kei occasionally turning to fire his gun until the bullets were spent. The stairs were narrow and spiralled and these were the only things that stopped the men from having a clean shot. The bullets, so far, only ricocheted around them, some striking the floor in front and others going wild and hitting the walls. Still it was only a matter of seconds before one of them was hit.

They had reached the forth floor now and Kei motioned to the two ahead of him to get off the stairs. The men hadn't yet rounded the corner above them and this gave them a chance.

"Kei!" Sho yelled when the vampire did not follow them. Instead he kept going, down the next flight and, as anticipated, the men followed him, thinking that Sho and Toshi were still ahead of him.

Without his human charges, Kei was able to move faster, although he took enough care to make sure that he was still followed. Once he had gotten clear of the building, Kei intended to kill them all but for now he had to lead them away from Sho and Toshi.

It was then that it happened. Kei was nearly down the next flight of stairs when his previous weariness chose to return. His vision swam and, for a moment, he must have blacked out for, when he became aware of his surroundings again, he was pinned up against the wall and a gun was pressed to his head.

Kei instantly stilled, feeling a rare stab of fear spark through him for he wasn't sure if he could muster the strength to throw the man off of him before the trigger was pulled. Luka had once told Kei that they could even survive a bullet in the brain but in his current state, Kei wasn't keen to find out if his mentor had been right.

The man holding him smirked and Kei flinched as a shot rang out and he braced himself for the pain. Then the pressure of the gun against Kei's temple relaxed and the man slumped forward against the vampire. He was dead.

"See, I'm still a pretty good shot," Sho smirked as he jogged down the couple of steps to join the blonde. "Lucky for you," he added cockily when Kei failed to reply.

As he said this, they both heard more footsteps on the stairs, even as shots rung out, and moments later Toshi rejoined them.

"I couldn't hold them off," he said a little breathlessly as he discarded his now empty gun.

"Go," Kei ordered them both as he forced himself to gather what remained of his strength.

"I can fight, too," Sho snapped defensively but he staggered a little as he said these words. Kei turned sharply to his friend and noted the fresh blood on his shirt.

"You have to keep pressure on that wound," Kei shot back before turning away lest his instincts get the better of him.

For once, Sho did not argue and Kei was glad of this. Still he felt the hopelessness of their situation and, in the back of his mind, he darkly wondered if he would be able to protect his friends after all.

* * *


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight: Betrayal**

Jian was breathing heavily, his eyes blazing with fury at what he had just been told. Had the screams of his men still not been reverberating loudly in his head he would not have believed it. The Japanese man at his feet had smiled almost victoriously and his earned him another swift kick in the ribs. Shinji groaned in pain at this treatment and yet the smirk never quite left his eyes.

Unsure of his next move, Jian paced up and down, feeling foolish in front of his men. His first thought was to send as many as he could into the building but this would serve no purpose, not whilst that monster was inside. Six more remained inside as it was and the rest were looking to him for orders. Jian, for the first time since the night began, felt at a loss and this infuriated him even more than the loss of his men.

He was on edge and when his phone rang he almost leapt out of his skin. Roughly snatching the handset from the right pocket of his jacket, Jian saw that the caller was his father and he knew that he could not be ignored.

Chan was never one for pleasantries and, in any case, had rarely showed his younger son any affection. He immediately asked if Jian had captured the Japanese men yet and that Jian had to deny.

His father was furious and berated at him again, however, Chan's orders remained the same. He wanted the Japanese punks dead.

Frustrated, Jian got off the phone and saw that the remainder of his men were still looking to him to issue orders. He had to answer them or risk losing respect but what could he do? If he sent them into the building then they would die. They wouldn't achieve anything more than that.

Thinking, Jian couldn't understand why Kei was protecting Sho and the others. If he were a vampire then why would he care about them? What possible reason could he have? This needed more consideration and more time than Jian could give to it. He needed a result now or Chan really was going to lose patience.

"You," he beckoned two of his more trusted men over to him. "Go into the Japanese district and find one of those punks who still owes us money."

"Jian-sama?" The first enquired in confusion, obviously they were wondering why Jian was concerned with small fry at a time like this.

"Make sure the punk you find looks somewhat like the target and kill him. Make as much mess as possible, especially the face. I don't want him to be recognisable when you've finished, you understand me?"

The two indicated that they did and left hurriedly. Then, turning to the rest, Jian ordered that they entered the building. True, he was condemning them to death but the fewer witnesses to his actions the better. If Chan thought that he had obtained his revenge then it would give Jian more time to put his own plan into action.

* * *

_It was becoming lighter outside. From the holes in the tattered drapes, Toshi could see the first signs of dawn clearly enough. He shifted his position slightly, agitated as he darted a glance in Kei's direction. The vampire hadn't moved and Toshi was unable to tell if he was even conscious anymore. Kei had been weak before and now… Toshi again felt stirrings of fear deep within himself although he had struggled to remain calm for the three of them. _

_The only sounds in the dark, besides his own breathing, were the shallow gasps coming from the man beside him. Toshi could scent blood in the air and he knew for Kei this would be magnified. Before today, Toshi knew without question that Kei would never harm them. Now, however, he was not so sure. _

_"Sho." Toshi whispered as he leaned over his friend. The ragged remains of Kei's white shirt hung limply in Sho's right hand, stained red with blood. "You need to keep the pressure on the wound." Toshi insisted, reaching out to take the cloth from him. He shuddered as he recalled Kei's urgent words as they were forced to retreat. They could still hear the raised Chinese voices edging closer and closer. They were still looking for them. _

_"Shinji…" Sho groaned, only half-conscious as Toshi pressed the cloth to his injured shoulder. _

_Toshi silently shook his head. When Sho was wounded, it was all that Kei could do to keep the men off of them long enough for them to retreat. Shinji had been captured or he was… _

_"I have to go. Nii-chan…" Sho tried to stand but he had lost so much blood that he was barely able to offer any resistance when Toshi pushed him back down. _

_"You can't fight." He whispered fiercely, "You'll be killed."_

_"What else do you suggest?" Sho replied softly as he gave in and applied pressure to the wound once more. "That we wait until they find us?" _

_"We don't have any weapons and Kei is too weak. We don't stand a chance against them! Our only hope is to wait until they've moved further away. Then we can make a break for it."_

_"And what about Shinji? I'm not leaving him."_

_There was nothing that Toshi could say in reply to this. Shinji was as good as dead and they would be as well if they tried to rescue him. With the dawn almost upon them and Sho too badly injured to fight, Toshi knew that they were running out of time._

_Sighing, he leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, listening to the voices that were gradually moving closer. _

They had retreated to one of the rooms on the third floor and, mercifully, they were remaining undetected. Even so, Toshi was struggling to keep himself calm. Kei was near collapse and Sho was most likely bleeding to death and there wasn't anything he could do for either of them. If dawn broke then it would be impossible for Kei to leave and Sho would never abandon him. Or Shinji, Toshi quickly reminded himself. Shinji was here somewhere, too.

"Kei," Toshi finally moved from his position next to Sho and dared to approach the vampire. For the first time since he had known Kei, Toshi almost felt afraid of him.

The smaller man looked up and gave Toshi a weary smile, but a flash of sharp fangs warned him that the vampire lurked just beneath the surface.

Gunshots again could be heard and Toshi flinched despite himself. "We need to get out of here whilst we still can," he said urgently.

Kei nodded and was trying to gather himself to stand when a voice rang sharply out down the corridor.

"Sho?"

The three of them froze at the sound of the Chinese voice and, when it was met with no response, it continued: "Your friends have killed a number of my men. Only a handful remain but I have sent them outside now. I only wish to talk with you, Sho. If you come out now then you can save yourself and your friends."

"Ignore him," Toshi murmured, as his eyes met Sho's. "He'll kill you if you set foot outside this room."

"So you don't want to save your own life?" The voice questioned again, "but what of your brother? Don't you want to save _him_?"

"Nii-chan!" Sho gasped, bolting up from the floor.

"No!" Kei moved at the exact same moment that Sho did, his hand closing tightly around Sho's good arm and forcing him to stop in his tracks, thus preventing him from racing outside the safety of the room.

"Get off of me!" Sho hissed as he struggled to break free from the hold Kei had on him.

"I'll go," Kei shot back. "Use the distraction to escape. If what he says in true then you won't have any problem in doing so."

Slowly releasing Sho's arm, Kei moved away towards the door. Toshi watched with baited breath as the vampire left the room, however, no sooner had the door clicked shut did Sho move towards it.

"Sho!" Toshi hissed, hurrying after him. "What are you doing?"

"I can't let him go out there alone," Sho snapped back angrily.

"You're badly hurt! You need to get that arm looked at."

"I'm not leaving either of them. You go. Go and get us some backup."

From the tone in his voice, Toshi could tell that Sho's mind was made up and that there was nothing he could do or say that would change it.

"Be careful," he said with a sigh. Sho nodded and Toshi silently watched his friend leaving the room, wondering if he had done the right thing.

* * *

Kei knew that he was barely holding himself together as he exited the room. It had been such a struggle to force the vampire down and even now he knew that the slightest thing might cause it to overcome him. He couldn't recall ever feeling as weak as he did now and this scared and frustrated him. His darker nature certainly wanted, and could, feed, but Kei's humanity still fought against it and now he didn't know if he could. Everything was so mixed up and he felt as though all the different emotions were fast consuming him. When the leader of the Chinese gang had, effectively, thrown them a lifeline, Kei was going to take it. For Sho and Toshi's sake more than his own.

Kei had been able to tell by scent that the man had spoken the truth; that he was alone, but he might well want something that Kei was unable to give him.

He approached the man with caution, keeping his focus on the guns holstered at the man's side. Even though Kei could survive a bullet, they could still do a lot of damage whilst he was so weak. Only movement behind him distracted Kei from this.

His first reaction as Sho's sudden appearance was of anger, both at him and Toshi for not keeping his friend safe. Sho moved awkwardly with his arm and in the light the paleness of his skin was all the more noticeable. Kei stepped slightly in front of his friend, even as Sho demanded to know where his brother was.

"He's safe," the man replied, still keeping to Chinese. "As I said, I only wish to talk to you, Sho."

"Well I'm here now, so talk."

The man met Sho's gaze. He had a confident arrogance about him that Kei did not trust but what choice did they have? His only hope now was that they could buy Toshi some time to get clear.

"First of all, introductions," the man said, taking a step nearer to them as he held out a hand. "I am Jian, Chan's second born."

Kei refused to take the offered hand and Sho evidently had similar suspicions and it was quickly withdrawn.

"You two, however, need no such introduction. You've caused me quite a bit of inconvenience. Inconvenience that I am, however, prepared to overlook… for a price."

"Which is?" Sho tensed and Kei moved further forward, wondering just where this was leading.

Jian chuckled and stepped back. "You're both tired and Sho's injured. My apartment is not far from here. You can rest up and I can have someone look at that arm."

"No way," Sho shook his head. "Why should we trust you?"

Jian looked up sharply and met Kei's eyes. "Because I know things," he said steadily, "I know things that my father doesn't yet know and," he then turned to Sho, "because I have your brother."

Kei felt a chill run through him at Jian's words. This wasn't just about Shinji anymore. Jian knew what Kei was. He knew and he intended to use this knowledge to his advantage.

"Sho needs to get to a hospital," Kei answered Jian, determined to give the man nothing in the way of the panic which was threatening to overcome him. He couldn't afford to confirm that the man already knew but Kei was well aware of the approaching dawn. Soon they wouldn't have any choice at all. "I'll go to your apartment. He walks away right now."

To this, Jian gave Kei a sly smile, "I don't think you appreciate your position. My offer of hospitality is not open to negotiation. You will both accompany me or I shall call my men back."

"If you call them back then you'll all die," Kei replied to this.

Jian shrugged and his smile widened, "That maybe so but don't forget, it's almost dawn."

Kei was silent for a few minutes, fast weighing up their options. Jian's men were just outside and, if they refused to comply, he would call them back. Kei wasn't sure if he could deal with them and Sho was looking paler by each passing minute. Also, this man still had Shinji and, despite the fact that he had betrayed Kei's secret, he was still Sho's brother.

"Very well," Kei finally agreed, "but if you or your men try anything..." he let the rest of the sentence hang, the threat clear in his tone.

Jian nodded, "You have my word," he replied.

* * *

Son smiled appreciatively at Yi-Che as she handed him the mug of coffee. He had been awake all night making calls and, through his contacts, he had finally learned the truth. That had been an hour ago and Son had been trying to contact Sho since then but his friend's phone was switched off. Son had also informed Yi-Che of what had happened and his sister had all but wept for she, too, knew the consequences of killing Chan's oldest son.

It would be dangerous for Son to become too active in his search for his friends for most of the Taiwanese had allied themselves with Chan and to do so would mean that he put himself and Yi-Che at risk. Son knew that he would just have to wait until he had heard from them. He could then put them in contact with some of his friends. The best chance they had was if they left Mallepa and he had also explained this to Yi-Che. She had understood this but Son hadn't missed the pained look in her eyes. She had grown fond of them all and she was in love with Kei.

She sat down beside him and gestured that perhaps he should get some sleep. Son shook his head as he looked at the clock on the wall. It was coming up to nine in the morning and he felt wide-awake. He knew he couldn't rest until he knew that his friends were safe. Yi-Che understood this and was about to join him on the sofa when they heard a frantic knocking at their door. His sister tensed at this and Son quietly told her to stay in the front room whilst he went to the door. Before doing so, he un-holstered his gun from his belt.

Feeling more than a little apprehensive, Son opened the door and was stunned when Toshi pushed passed him and raced into the room. Yi-Che stood, hanging back slightly as Son shut the door and hurried over to him. Already Toshi was babbling and Son had to more or less shout at him to get him to gather his senses together again.

"What happened?" He demanded after convincing Toshi to at least sit down.

"We tried to get away," he answered, his voice slower now but not losing its panicked tone. "But we were followed. They got Shinji first and cornered the rest of us. Jian, Chan's second son, demanded that Sho went to talk with him. Kei wouldn't allow it and went instead but Sho wasn't going to leave him. I managed to escape but I don't know what this guy wants with them. I don't think he wanted to kill them but I don't know…" Toshi broke off, shaking, and Son could see that the other man was clearly on the edge.

Thinking fast, Son considered the best course of action to take. If he and Yi-Che got involved then they would be as marked as Sho and the others, but these were his friends. How could he not help them? Son's contacts had stressed that they would help with information only for they had no wish to go directly up against Chan and his men. Son knew that he and Yi-Che were all that Toshi had.

"Look," he said, a glance at Yi-Che told him that she had made up her mind, too. "We'll get some stuff together and then we'll go back to the apartment. If the guy only wants to talk to them then they still have a chance."

"That was hours ago," Toshi answered brokenly, "I tried to get straight here but Chan's men are everywhere. I couldn't risk being seen and my phone is back at the apartment."

"Kei won't let anything happen to Sho," Son said, hoping his voice sounded more convincing than he felt. This was truth but Kei was so weak.

"He might not have a choice," Toshi replied darkly.

Son did not know what to say to this so ended up not responding at all. Instead he repeated that he just had to get some things together and then did just that. Whilst he was locating a bag to put some of their things into, he heard Toshi talking to Yi-Che and when he glanced back into the front room, he saw his sister's silent attempts to comfort their friend.

Fleetingly, Son wondered if he was doing the right thing by taking Yi-Che with them but the alternative was to leave her here on her own and this was something that Son could never do. They only had each other and he wasn't about to abandon his sister. She would be safer with them so that he could protect her. Son had naively thought that he could preserve her innocence, only to find that she had lost this long ago. Now all he could do was look after her the best he could. They had no parents, like Sho and the others, no one outside of the small group cared for them. It was the sad truth and this wasn't something that Son chose to dwell on too often. They had each other and right now he was determined to do whatever he could to help his friends and he knew that Yi-Che wanted this, too.

Still, his mind ran with possibilities and theories as to why Jian wanted them alive. What possible reason could he have? Surely he would want them dead like his father did? Son did not understand the reason behind this and this concerned him all the more. There was something else, something that they were yet to find out and this made Son uneasy.

Just what was Jian planning?

* * *

Jian's apartment was painted in stark white, completely in contrast with the dark redwood furnishings. The journey had lasted ten minutes and Kei had felt some fear during this for they had barely arrived before the dawn.

The men seemed to know exactly what he was doing, however, and ushered them both inside and up to the top floor. The men who had been waiting outside had not questioned their leader and so he had been met without opposition. Kei could have concerned himself with contemplating many scenarios for the outcome of all of this but he hadn't. He was struggling and knew that he had to focus on what was happening now, not on possibilities.

He had felt some protest rise up when Sho had been taken away. A man, who claimed to be a doctor, appeared and Sho was told to go with him. Kei had felt a certain amount of reluctance in allowing this to happen but, for the moment, Jian had the advantage and so Sho had left without complaint. Kei himself had been invited into the main sitting room, which, like the rest of the apartment, was painted white.

Jian owned the entire floor and many of his underlings lived on the floors beneath. This was essentially enemy territory and Kei did not like it at all. One man, who appeared to be a servant of some description, had followed them in, however disappearing into the kitchen at Jian's command. The set-up was curiously archaic and yet intermingled with modern ideals and Kei didn't know what to make of it at all. He had tried to gain a measure of Jian's personality but the man had not said much since they had left the apartment. Kei did not like this silence, however, he had lived long enough to learn that he shouldn't push for too much information when at such a disadvantage. Jian certainly knew what Kei was and that he could easily kill him, but he didn't know if, or when, Kei would. He had to be wary of the vampire at least and Kei wondered if he could somehow use this to regain control of the situation. Jian did not come across as well leadership wise as his father or brother did. Being the younger sibling, he would not inherit anything more than becoming a dogsbody, second in command was a glorified name for the position. That's all he would ever be and he surely knew it, too.

The 'servant' returned holding a plastic tray with two mugs upon it. The tray was set down on the low table in front of the sofa. The 'servant' then left them alone.

Jian had been standing beside the window, staring at the closed drapes with an unreadable expression on his face. However, now he approached Kei who was standing just behind the aforementioned sofa, which, ironically, was deep red in colour.

"Why don't you take a seat?" Jian suggested rather than asked as he selected the first mug and began to approach the vampire. Kei tensed a little at this as he caught the scent of blood in the air. He took the mug, unable to conceal his shock at the presence of the crimson liquid, which swirled a little as the mug changed hands. Jian backed off, although his eyes remained fixated on Kei as he awaited his reaction.

Kei felt himself beginning to tremble slightly when temptation was so near and he did force himself to be seated and he looked up at Jian sharply whilst trying to fight down the hunger that burned him from the inside.

"Yes it's human blood," Jian confirmed with a smile as he sat down on the chair opposite Kei. "I can get anything I want. Don't be shy, drink. I already know what you are."

The choice that Kei faced was agonising. Although the blood, normally, would be cold and almost unpalatable, he felt his teeth aching at the prospect of feeding after so long. After much effort, Kei placed the cup on the table, noting Jian's suppressed anger at this action.

Yet the Chinese man did not say anything against Kei for this. Instead he stood again and went to the door, calling for his 'servant' again. The man appeared and it was then that Kei saw the flash of the knife that Jian had kept concealed under his trouser leg. The servant saw this, too, and there was a momentary flash of terror in his eyes before Jian slashed the blade across his throat.

The man crumpled almost instantly as blood spurted from the wound, covering the wall and door in red.

Kei had barely time to feel the horror in these actions before he felt the vampire rising to the surface again. He could feel it surging forth and there was nothing he could do to stop it. For so long it had remained repressed and now he lacked the strength to force it back down.

Jian smirked victoriously as Kei crossed the room in an instant and snatched a hold of the dying man. "I thought you might prefer a live feed," he murmured, having to look away as Kei's teeth locked onto the man's slit throat.

_Feedfeedfeedfeedfeedfeedfeedfeed_

It was all Kei could think of now and he felt the last of his willpower fade away as blood touched his lips. With the remainder of his strength, he tore himself away from the man so that he could meet Jian's eyes.

"Get out…" were his last words, a plea more so than anything, for the vampire had fully taken control and Kei knew that, having allowed himself to go for so long without a feed, there would be carnage.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine: Consumed**

To Sho's surprise, Jian was true to his word. He had fully expected that, once he had been separated from Kei, he would be killed. They hadn't, however, had much choice in the matter. Jian knew what Kei really was and he also had Shinji. So far none of the men had given away the location of his brother and, as much as it frustrated Sho, he knew that he would have to keep playing Jian's little game for now. Although he tried to act nonchalant as he was led away, inside he felt anything but.

The man that Sho was introduced to was a doctor. Dr Huang was a man entering his fifties with kindly brown eyes and shortly cropped black hair. His face had lines of age marring it and his skin was already starting to wrinkle. His hands shook slightly and Dr Huang had looked at Sho's arm without a word. It would appear that Kei's assessment had been correct and that the bullet had exited, however, Sho knew that he had lost a dangerous amount of blood and, as it was, he was struggling to maintain his consciousness.

The room that Sho had been sent to was set up as a small infirmary of some sort and, so Jian had explained before hand, occasionally there was need for it if a high-ranking member of the gang was hurt during operations. Sho knew that the Chinese cared little for the lowly thugs who fronted them but for the senior men it was different. It was the same with the Japanese and Taiwanese gangs, too. The men that had been killed so that Jian could get to Sho and Kei were small fry in comparison.

Sho winced as again the doctor probed his arm. He had tried to maintain a stoic front but this was fast becoming difficult. Sho couldn't stop thinking of Shinji and Kei and also if Toshi had made it out safely. Perhaps they would have been better to stick together after all?

_I don't want anything more to do with either of you. Ever_

Again Sho thought of Shinji's words but now any anger he had been feeling had evaporated. All he wanted was to see Shinji again so that they could both make amends.

"You need a blood transfusion," Dr Huang broke into his thoughts. "There is a hospital just outside the City which will do this without questioning me. With approval from Jian, I will take you there now."

"No," Sho weakly shook his head, "I'm not leaving until I know that Shinji and Kei are safe."

"Jian will be as good as his word," the doctor assured him, a flicker of kindness entering his voice as he spoke. "You need that transfusion or you'll die."

Sho again shook his head, declaring stubbornly, "I'll be fine."

"No. You won't," Dr Huang replied shortly. "I will speak with Jian and then we will go to the hospital."

He left the room and Sho heard a key turning in a lock on the other side. He had been seated on a bed but got up as soon as the doctor was gone. Sho felt more than a little dizzy as he stood and crossed over to the window. He recalled little of the journey to the apartment and quick look out of the window confirmed that he was on the top floor. Cursing under his breath, Sho glanced around the room, his heart sinking when he realised that there was no other way out.

A combination of frustration, anger and fear began to gnaw away at him and Sho had trouble forcing this back down. He didn't want to go to the hospital. He didn't want to go anywhere until he knew that Shinji and Kei were fine. He also felt faint and finally he was forced back onto the bed, closing his eyes as a shiver went through him. Dr Huang was right. He could already feel his body weakening further under the strain. If he didn't go to the hospital then he would die.

The door to the room was soon unlocked and Dr Huang re-entered the room. This time he was not alone and Sho was almost grateful for the support when a man helped him to his feet. His legs felt as though they were going to give way at any moment and Sho all but leaned against him, keeping his eyes closed. Frustration again rose to the forefront of his mind, yet he could not dispute going to the hospital any longer. His vision slowly began to narrow and, in a few minutes, turned to darkness.

* * *

Jian felt his heart pounding in his chest as Dr Huang left his side. Sho was in a bad way and Jian had given his consent for the doctor to take him to a hospital out of the city. Initially Jian had hoped that Sho could be treated here but this was not the case, Dr Huang had been adamant of this.

As soon as Dr Huang departed, Jian forced himself to refocus and, very hesitantly, he opened the door and stepped into the room. As all guns fired inside the apartment had silencers on them, the doctor and Sho had remained oblivious to the slaughter that had taken place just down the hall from them.

_Get out…_

Kei's desperate plea still echoed in Jian's mind and he felt sick to the stomach as his eyes surveyed the massacre before him. The first man lay where Jian had killed him, his eyes shot open, his mouth twisted in a petrified grimace. His throat had been torn to shreds and blood caked his shirt and face. His body was sprawled on its back, his arms flailed and legs at an angle. The second was not far from him, slumped up against a wall with his unfired gun still in his hand. His face, too, was frozen in a picture of horror.

In all Jian's years he had never seen anything that sickened him quite like this. Although it had been part of his plan to dispose of all but two of the men that had assisted him in betraying his family and not killing Sho when he should have done, he felt a momentary pang of guilt at such cold-blooded killings. There were seven bodies in total. Jian had been the one to send them all to their deaths. He had called for backup and told them that Kei had gone mad, that he was trying to escape and the men had raced into the room to stop him. It was like a scene from a badly written vampire movie, Jian thought to himself and the ploy had worked just as well. The men had all been killed. Shinji had been the one to betray just how Kei had felt about feeding and how he had repressed his appetite for blood for so long. The servant had only wetted this appetite it would seem.

Scanning the room, Jian quickly located the vampire. Kei was sitting against the back wall of the room, only raising his head slightly at Jian's hesitant approach. The vampire was covered in blood, staining both his clothes and skin but this was not the most alarming thing about him. Kei's eyes were narrowed and almost yellow looking under the artificial light of the room. Jian, needing reassurance, touched the gun at his hip. It was this action that caused Kei to break his silence.

"You know I can kill you before you've even pulled that weapon," his voice was strangely devoid of all emotion and this caused Jian's earlier confidence, that he had worked the situation to his advantage, to waver.

"You can," Jian acknowledged this whilst keeping a respectful distance from the vampire, "but you won't."

"I could," Kei, very slowly, stood. His movements were easier now and almost graceful. He seemed to care little for the blood or the bodies that littered the floor, a stark contrast from the man that Jian had spoken to earlier that morning.

_What have I done?_

With seemingly no effort at all, Kei crossed the room in a heartbeat and Jian found himself pressed up against the closed door, Kei's right hand closing around his throat. He gagged under the pressure that was being used and, in vain, fought to free himself. Kei smirked at this and opened his mouth to reveal a sharp set of fangs, fangs that already had blood on them.

"Kei…" Jian gasped, fear now taking precedent as he struggled to think of something, anything, that could save him from a similar fate of that of his men. "Kei… please…"

His pleas appeared to amuse the vampire and the pressure against Jian's throat increased to the point where stars began to blot out his vision. He could feel Kei inching closing, could feel the fangs scraping against his collarbone.

"Sho…" Jian whispered in a last desperate attempt to regain some of the upper hand that had been snatched from him.

His words had the desired affect and Kei released him. Jian managed to just keep himself from falling to the floor and he leaned against back for some support as he took in deep gulps of air.

"Where's Sho?" Kei demanded, his voice containing a hardened and dangerous edge that Jian had never heard before. "Tell me or I'll cut your throat."

"He's injured but my men are taking care of him."

"Bring him here."

Jian shook his head, "I can't do that."

"If you don't then I will kill you."

"Kill me and my men will kill him," Jian stood properly, keen to assert his position now that it was clear that, whatever had happened to him, Kei still cared about Sho. "You see, Kei, I call the shots here. My men are under very strict orders and will not betray me. Even if you should find Sho, they will kill him before even you can kill all of them." This was a bluff. Jian was well aware that, aside from Dr Huang, there were only two men with Sho but it was vital that Kei believed that Sho was in danger. If he didn't then Jian knew that he was a dead man.

"What do you want?" Kei considered Jian's words before eventually responding.

Jian smiled; finally things were going his way. "My demands are simple. I have something you want and, if you want Sho back, you need to do something for me. I want you to kill Chan."

* * *

Long ago Luka had warned Kei of the dangers of going without a feed yet he had never really spoken of what might happen should Kei ignore his words. Occasionally, they were forced to starve themselves for many days, weeks even, but never had Luka allowed things to get out of hand. Then one day he was gone and Kei realised that his lover had taught him very little of what he needed to know to survive on his own. He would have died had Sho not been in the abandoned building that day. Kei had wanted to die but Sho's innocent smile had given him something to live for. He needed the boy more than he cared to admit. Kei was secretly terrified of losing Sho, and, at this moment, he knew that he also losing himself.

The blood lust was stronger, even after feeding it dominated his thoughts and ravaged down his humanity. Kei was aware that it was happening and tried to fight against it but the vampire did not wish to be repressed and its anger clouded Kei's mind, warping his grip on reality. The scene played itself out like an amateur video. Sometimes he knew exactly what he was doing, what he was saying and other times he would lose focus completely. Everything was muddled and in his confusion, his darker nature had taken control. The vampire and the human had always existed alongside each other. The human needed the vampire and the vampire needed the human. Humanity was what gave Kei access to his victims and the vampire took their blood in order to grant both sides life. Kei had always fought against it to some extent but he had never guessed what could happen if he tried to crush the vampire, to force it down deep inside of him, if he tried to die.

A vampire's instinct was to survive and Kei struggled to maintain his grip on himself as Jian squirmed in his grasp.

_Sho…_

The mention of his human friend had a profound affect on him. Kei felt the vampire's anger quietening and he was able to focus enough to force himself into letting Jian go. Instead he focused on Sho, trying to convey to himself just how much he cared about the human's welfare and, for now, things became clearer in his mind.

_I want you to kill Chan_

Kei finally felt something inside of him break and his mind became his own again, rather than being dominated by his natural instincts. He finally became aware of the smell of death and the bodies that littered the room. His legs felt weak and he would have fallen had Jian not been there to hold him up. The man, sensing that the danger from Kei had passed, helped the vampire onto the sofa and Kei's stomach churned when he saw his blood soaked clothes. Despair threatened to overwhelm him and he found that he couldn't even look Jian in the face.

"They were trying to kill you," Jian spoke, his tone almost reassuring somehow. "Do not allow their deaths to be on your conscience."

Despite his words, Kei knew that he would do but he could not admit such a thing to an enemy. Perhaps it would have been better to allow the vampire to keep control, the vampire was the stronger one.

Kei took a couple of minutes to focus, not on the smell of death around him or the blood that soaked his clothes but upon what Jian was asking of him. For a mortal, killing Chan would be an impossible task. The man had thousands of men at his disposal and only employed the most loyal and ruthless of bodyguards. A mortal could not get through to him but the vampire could, which was what Jian had in mind, but why would Chan's son wish to see him dead? It had to be for power. Kei knew more than he cared to about the workings of the Chinese gang that Chan headed and he knew that Jian was not going to inherit anything more than being the second in command that he already was. Now that Xiong was more or less out of the picture, Jian should be the next in line so why not wait until Chan had died naturally or by another gang's hand? Why strike now and risk everything?

"I can see you're thinking about what I said," Jian took a seat in a chair, disdainfully nudging a body with a foot as he did so. "I want you to kill Chan. If you don't then Sho will die."

"You are playing a very dangerous game," Kei answered him quietly. "Do not think you can win."

"Oh but I can," Jian sat back in the chair, and lit a cigarette. "You see you may think that you have the advantage with your superior strength and abilities but I have Sho and you'll do whatever you have to, to keep him from harm."

"That is true," Kei acknowledged, "but I also know that Sho would rather be dead than have us both indebted to you."

"But you already are. Thanks to me Chan thinks that Sho is already dead but one call can change all of that."

Kei considered this, "You are risking a lot by even planning Chan's death. I understand what you have to gain but Xiong is out of your way. You could simply be patient."

Jian frowned a little, obviously not keen to answer this but torn as he wanted Kei on side. "My father's choice is Xiong and this will not change, as will his opinion of me. He will always choose someone else."

"And if I rid you of Chan, surely there are those who would seek revenge for this act?"

"His most loyal aids will be with him. I should imagine you would kill them too for they would defend their leader."

This was true; Kei could not deny it and when Jian again repeated his request, Kei resisted in giving him an answer straight away. If he killed Chan then they would be allowed to leave; himself, Sho and Shinji. They would be free and all of this would be behind them, Jian had given his word that they would be left to live their lives, with the proviso that they leave the Chinese gang alone. Kei did not wish to make that sort of alliance but he also could not risk calling Jian's bluff on this occasion. Despite his earlier words, he would do anything to protect Sho, even if it meant becoming indebted to Jian.

"Then we have an understanding," Kei said at length, "I will kill Chan but if you do not honour your word then you will also die."

Jian nodded, "You have my word."

Somewhere inside of him, Kei felt the vampire stir but he quietened it with the promise that it would get to feed again very soon. It yielded once again yet this time Kei felt a hidden ferocity that he never knew existed before. It was as though Jian had awakened something inside of him, something that Kei wasn't sure that he could control.

* * *

As soon as the car pulled up opposite the apartment, Son realised that something was wrong. He had brought his guns for he had expected the building to be heavily guarded but instead they found it completely deserted. Even Chan's men had disappeared from the streets. The apartment was dark inside.

"Are you sure this is the place?" He asked Toshi and the other man nodded before jumping out of the car. Son cursed under his breath and followed suit, but not before instructing Yi-Che to stay in the car. Despite her resolve and want to help their friends, Son could see that she was frightened and he promised her that they wouldn't be long.

The entrance to the apartment block was a coded system but the door was easily forced. Toshi made to dart inside but Son clamped a hand down on his wrist and pulled him back. The hallway, too, was dark and Son didn't know what to make of this at all. He slipped a gun free from his belt and went first, straining to hear even the slightest of sounds but there was none.

Floor after floor was deserted and they soon reached the top suite. The moment that Son set foot on the top floor he knew that something was very wrong. The atmosphere was different, more oppressive and Son didn't like it at all.

He moved slowly down the corridor, straining his eyes in the gloom to detect even the slightest movement but there was none. Son paused outside of the first door that he came to. With baited breath he put his free hand on the handle and turned it. It swung open easily enough and Son dared to look into the room. The drapes had been pulled across the window but he could make out shapes slumped on the floor. The shapes appeared to be human and Son did not like this at all.

Swallowing hard, he felt for a light switch and flicked it on. The sight that lay before him sickened Son and his stomach churned and he would have thrown up had he eaten anything in the last few hours. There were bodies in the room. This was nothing knew to him in itself but it was how the men had died that shook him. Someone had obviously dumped them here for there were trails of blood on the carpet. Each man bore the same type of wound, a gash in the neck almost as though an animal had ripped their throats out. Son, however, knew that this was not an animal attack. There was only one person capable of such a massacre.

"Son?" Toshi's voice in the corridor startled him somewhat and he hurriedly flicked the light off and pulled the door shut. His friend had been checking the other rooms and so he had not seen what was inside. Son thanked small mercies that Yi-Che had stayed inside the car. Son would never forgive himself if she had seen what he had.

"Did you find anything?" Toshi was asking him now.

"Just bodies. There's no one here alive."

Toshi swallowed hard at this, "Then Kei and Sho must have escaped?" He asked obviously coming to the same conclusion about the bodies in the room.

"I don't know," Son replied, "Let's go back to the car."

Yi-Che's questioning gaze was upon them as soon as they returned to the car. Without giving her too much detail, Son explained that there was no one inside the apartment block. She nodded and gestured to Son's phone. She wanted him to try calling their friends.

Son nodded and tried Sho's phone first. It was switched off and went straight to voicemail. Son debated leaving a message but decided against it. If they were wrong and Sho and Kei hadn't escaped then he could be putting himself, Yi-Che and Toshi at risk, too.

He very reluctantly tried Kei's phone afterwards and, much to his surprise, the vampire answered.

"Kei, it's Son. Where are you guys? We've been worried."

"I'm at home," came Kei's reply but something in his voice sounded off and Son wasn't sure whether to call him on it or leave matters be.

"What about Sho and Shinji? Are they with you?"

There was a pause before Kei answered this. "No."

"Are they safe?"

"Not yet," the vampire admitted, "but don't worry they will be soon."

"We're at the apartment block but everyone's gone."

"I know," Kei hesitated before adding, "You should go home, all of you. I'll contact you when Sho and Shinji are safe."

"Is there anything we can do? We want to help."

"No. You should just go home," he sounded very distant and not like the Kei that Son knew at all.

"Kei--" Son began but the vampire cut him off with again repeating that he should just take the others home.

Feeling awkward and more than a little angry, Son came off the phone quickly and repeated the conversation to Yi-Che and Toshi. His sister appeared worried whilst Toshi was annoyed. Son didn't know Kei as well as Toshi did but the other man couldn't offer any reasonable explanation as to why the vampire was acting like this either. Son again thought back to Kei's weakened state before and his anxiety increased several notches.

"We shouldn't stay here," he decided at last, "Kei's right it's dangerous."

"So we should just do nothing?" Toshi demanded.

"No," Son shook his head, "You've known Kei for longer so you should head over to his apartment and see if you can find out what's going on. I'll head over to the Chinese wards and see what I can find out."

Toshi nodded, however it was clear in his face that he was worried as Son was becoming. Just what was going on? Things had suddenly headed in a new direction and Son wasn't sure he liked this at all.

* * *

When Sho awoke his first thought was that he felt strangely rested. For the first time in what seemed like days he felt stronger. He opened his eyes and tried to sit up as he remembered the events that had brought him here but a hand on his chest pushed him back down.

Dr Huang appeared in his line of vision and warned him against getting up too quickly. As much as Sho wanted to protest, the vertigo that swiftly assaulted him was enough to force him to heed the doctor's words. Uttering a sigh, he laid back against the pillows whilst Dr Huang spoke.

"You're in a hospital just outside of the city. The doctors here have given you a blood transfusion and patched your arm up. You'll be a little weak for a few days but aside from that you'll be fine."

"And what about Kei? I want to see him."

"That isn't possible here," Dr Huang replied.

"Then when will it be possible?"

"Not for a while. My orders are to see that you are fully recovered and then to bring you back to one of Jian's properties in the city."

"You can't keep me here against my will," Sho answered to this, "I see you're alone."

"True but Jian knows the whereabouts of your brother. You wouldn't abandon him would you?"

_Do you think I haven't noticed the way you look at him? It's very obvious that you're in love with him and that sickens me. I'm leaving and you can't stop me. In fact, I don't want anything more to do with either of you. Ever_

Despite everything, Shinji was still his brother and deep down Sho hoped that they could somehow make things right between them.

"Can I see Shinji?" He asked next and again Dr Huang refused.

"Then how do I know you haven't killed him already?"

"You have to trust us," Dr Huang replied. "If Jian had wished either of you harm then why would he have had me bring you to the hospital?"

Sho did not say anything to this. Despite Dr Huang being with the enemy, he did not feel as though the doctor was lying to him. Although he did not want to admit it, he did feel weak and Sho wasn't sure that he could put up much of a fight. As it was it wouldn't help Shinji or Kei if he left without them.

_I'm not leaving either of them. You go. Go and get us some backup_

Toshi and Son were still out there, Sho reminded himself. He just had to be patient and gather his strength again. One thing though, he had already decided. He was not letting Dr Huang take him back to Jian's home.

* * *

_No. You should just go home_

Kei hadn't been sure of what to do once Jian had given him a lift back to his apartment. During the daylight hours launching an attack against Chan would be out of the question and, as it was, the Chinese leader was spending every waking moment at his eldest son's bedside. Jian seemed relaxed enough to let Kei deal with things in his own way but the vampire was sure that this would not last. Jian would become impatient if he delayed too long and Kei had no wish to.

Although he had agreed to Jian's terms, he felt sickened when he thought about what he had to do. He had taken so many lives and no one deserved such a fate more so than Chan but he still couldn't shake off this feeling. Something was different. He felt uneasy and unable to rest. At first he had put it down to his fear for Sho but there was something else. When Son had called Kei had felt annoyance at his interference more than anything. He didn't like these feelings and was quick to banish them to the back of his mind.

After taking the call, he went to his room. The drapes were tightly pulled as normal and the only light was from an artificial lamp in the corner nearest the window. Kei sat down on the edge of his bed, momentarily placing his head in his hands. He hated how empty the apartment seemed without Sho and he hated even more how he had been forced to leave his friend at the mercy of the Chinese gang. Although Jian had given his word that Sho wouldn't be harmed, Kei couldn't shake the feeling that he had abandoned Sho somehow. Sho… it was thinking of Sho that had brought him back from the brink. He might have lost himself to the vampire forever without Sho.

Finally, Kei looked up and he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror hanging on the wall opposite the bed. It had been the first time he had seen himself since this nightmare began and Kei felt a rush of fear pulse through him as he noticed straight away the change that had started to overtake him. Before Luka had turned him, his hair had been black rather than blonde. It had been a side effect of the transformation, Luka had assured him. It was perfectly normal but this, Kei knew with certainty, could not be normal. The changes had completed themselves over a century ago so this could not be possible and Kei ventured closer to the mirror to make sure. His eye colour had changed from its usual moss green to a pale yellow.

Kei began to shake as he fought to force down the fear that was rapidly taking hold of him. This couldn't have happened. How could it have happened? Kei tore himself away from the mirror as he realised with a chill that he had no answers. The only person who could have helped him was Luka and Luka was dead. Kei was on his own.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: Lose Control**

Shinji sat on the bed, his legs pulled up and under him despite the dull pain that continued to pound his fragile body. He had lost consciousness soon after Jian went into the apartment block and did not know what had happened. He had woke here and hadn't been told anything by the two men guarding the door. 'Here' was a small room in an apartment in the Chinese part of the city. Outside Shinji could hear the noise from the traffic and foreign voices calling to each other. He was on the second floor and the room he was in only contained a bed. The mattress was hard and there was only a fleece throw on top of it, and no pillows. A tray sat on the floor near the door and contained some kind of noodle dish and a glass of water. Shinji had drank from the glass but had refused the food. His stomach turned over each time he thought of Sho and what had happened. His words from before were said in anger and Shinji was still angry.

He wanted Kei gone. He wanted the vampire to leave them to get on with their lives. Why couldn't Sho see that he was a poison to them? Kei was holding Sho back and Sho let him. Shinji knew why, he knew that Sho loved Kei but it was a misguided love. Vampires weren't capable of such an emotion, Shinji tried telling himself but in reality he was terrified that Kei would one day return Sho's feelings. All his life Shinji had wanted to protect Sho and Sho couldn't see that. Then there had been the drugs and Shinji's addiction had pretty much destroyed any relationship he might have had with Sho. His brother was virtually a stranger to him now and this pained Shinji more than anything.

The withdrawal was hitting him now, too. He craved the release that the drugs offered him and at the same time he fought it more than ever. He had to clean up his act, for Sho's sake more than his own. It was Shinji's fault that they were in this mess to start with and, as much as Shinji hated Kei, he hoped that the vampire had been able to save Sho at least.

A shout from outside the door snapped Shinji's attention back to reality and he looked up as gunshots followed. Seconds later the door burst open. Standing on the other side was the last person he expected to see.

"Son?" Shinji didn't know the Taiwanese man that well but he could tell from Son's expression that he had hoped to find Sho here.

He hid his almost disappointment quickly and crossed the room to help Shinji to his feet. As much as he hated to depend on anyone, Shinji accepted the help although he was unsure how his rescue had come to be.

Son did not say a word until they had cleared the building. There had been four men in total and Son had killed them all. His car was parked a few streets away and Shinji was stunned to see Yi-Che waiting in the passenger seat.

"You brought your sister here?" He asked in disbelief.

"I didn't have any choice," Son answered defensively. "We're all in danger. Toshi's gone over to Sho and Kei's. He's going to meet us back at mine. It's safer there."

Shinji nodded, wincing as more pain shot through his body. "How did you find me?"

"I have a couple of contacts who are unhappy with Chan's gang. They told me that they had seen you dragged up there," Son replied as he started the car. "Do you know where they took Sho?"

Shinji shook his head, again feeling guilty.

Son frowned with worry but masked this quickly with: "We'll get back to our apartment and Yi-Che can take a look at your wounds. As I said, Toshi's gone to see Kei."

"Kei's alive?" Shinji asked, trying to keep his voice neutral.

"Yeah," Son confirmed, seemingly unsure of what to say next. Shinji also didn't want to comment on the vampire further. It seemed that neither of them knew of his part in this and Shinji wanted to keep it that way. He silently cursed Kei for escaping whilst Sho suffered in his place. The hatred that Shinji felt towards the vampire magnified now. If anything happened to Sho then Shinji would make sure that Kei suffered for it.

* * *

_"Don't you ever grow tired?"_

_Kei flinched a little as Luka's posture straightened, becoming tense somehow as he considered this question. Yokohama winters were cold, even for them, and they had been walking for hours in the snow. Neither needed to feed and they were just out due to force of habit, or this was what Kei decided upon anyway. He didn't really mind. He enjoyed their night time strolls. Rarely were these devoid of the killing, of the need for blood and Kei enjoyed every moment. It was nights such as these that he could truly benefit from for there was an innocence about them somehow. It was after 2 in the morning, the snow lay undisturbed and there was no one else around. It was almost perfect, Kei had thought to himself. Almost perfect… until he had to ask that fated question. _

_Kei was very young for a vampire and would have just entered his thirties had he still been human. Like any youngster he was aware that he often made mistakes and said things that perhaps should remain unspoken of. He was still learning and, so Luka often hinted at, his innocence was meant to be appealing. Of course, when his mentor gave him a soft sigh and a heavy smile, Kei worried that he had spoken out of term or perhaps put his foot in it again. Luka rarely spoke of his past and Kei didn't know exactly what he was meant to be avoid, only that it hurt Luka and so should remain an unspoken memory. _

_"Tired of what?" Luka did choose to grant him a reply and Kei took this as permission to carry on. _

_"Of living. How many centuries can you see come and pass before you grow weary of it all?" _

_Luka smiled again, a half smile that was as much as he tended to permit himself to give away, showing his amusement but at the same time his fondness for the younger vampire and Kei sometimes wished he wouldn't. It made him feel like a child again. _

_Kei's question wasn't so much out of the blue. He had been contemplating for a while now, and the recent turn of the century had left him all the more curious. _

_"The twentieth century will see many changes," Luka was fond of his predictions, accurate or not, and Kei liked to humour him, even if he wasn't so sure himself. "Don't you want to see what humans can accomplish? Neither of us would ever see such things had we lived out our natural life spans. We wouldn't have even known each other."_

_Kei had often, when he was still human, wondered what the future would bring. A future that he himself had no hope of ever seeing, until now that was. _

_Instead of replying, Kei lit a cigarette and the two of them walked in silence for a few minutes until Luka spoke again. _

_"I expect I will grow tired one day," he said in answering to Kei's previous question. "And when that time comes…" _

_"What?" Kei asked when Luka left the sentence unfinished. _

_The older vampire shook his head, refusing to elaborate, "Nothing. Come on, we should head back soon."_

_Kei nodded, feeling a little unsettled at the words unspoken. This feeling, however, was not to last when Luka leaned over and plucked the cigarette from his fingertips. _

_"That was my last one," he complained as Luka placed it between his own lips. This protest was light-hearted, as Kei didn't mind really. He would have given Luka anything he wanted, not that he would tell the older man that – there was still so much that was left unspoken between them. _

_Kei smiled, feeling at ease again as the conversation once more became light-hearted. Yet he was to eventually discover what it would mean when a vampire grew tired of living and what it would mean for both of them when that day came. _

When Kei woke he was disorientated as a result of his dream. Dreaming of Luka was always painful and, considering his current situation, the pain was magnified until a point when it was almost unbearable. He had not even realised that he had drifted off until he was snapped back into reality with the realisation that there was someone in his room.

He bolted up, a low growl working its way up from his throat before he had a chance to stop it. His fangs extended themselves and it was only upon hearing a familiar voice that he was drawn back into reality.

"Kei, sorry to startle you. I still had the spare key and let myself in, I hope that was okay?"

_Toshi… it was Toshi…_

Kei exhaled, feeling weak at the sound of his friend's voice and the vampire nature quietened once more. Although Toshi had intended his tone to be relaxed, Kei was aware that he had been speaking a little too quickly. Kei's reaction had scared him.

"No…" Kei placed a hand to his forehead, silently cursing himself and hating what he was even more so now. Had Toshi not spoken when he did then Kei might have gone for him. Gods what was wrong with him?

"No… it's fine," he elaborated quietly as he looked up to meet Toshi's concerned gaze. "Is everything okay?"

It was clear that Toshi was still uneasy and Kei remained seated, hoping to try and put him at ease somehow by staying where he was.

"Everything's fine but… Son and I were worried about you."

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine," Toshi ventured a little further into the room. "Look, Kei… I know we're not as strong as you but it doesn't mean that you have to fight alone. We want to help Sho, too."

Kei inwardly groaned at this. He didn't have the strength for this at the moment. "I know. Toshi--"

"I mean it. Sho and Shinji are my family. Don't keep me in the dark, Kei. I know that something's up."

Unfortunately, Toshi tended to be like a dog with a bone in the sense that once he got an idea into his head it was very difficult to get him to drop it and Kei couldn't afford to have him involved. They were not dealing with Chan's cronies any longer; these were the big boys now and Kei knew that Toshi would only get himself and the others killed if Kei allowed him to become involved.

"I know as little as you--" he started to say but Toshi hurriedly cut him off in a harried tone that Kei had never heard him use before.

"You're lying. Why did you leave Sho? You were with him when I left you. Why did you abandon him like that?"

"I didn't abandon him," Kei replied sharply.

"Then where is he, Kei?"

"I…" Kei trailed off, feeling the vampire growing restless once more. It tired of the conversation with Toshi and Kei could feel its irritation just below the surface once more. If Toshi didn't leave soon then Kei didn't know what would happen.

"I made a deal with Jian," he admitted finally, knowing that only the truth would quieten his friend. "If I do him a favour then he'll let Sho live."

"And what is this 'favour'?"

Kei shook his head, "I can't tell you, it would only put Sho further at risk."

Toshi was quiet, considering this for a moment and when he finally replied, Kei could tell that his friend was angry with him. "Okay, but if you need any help…"

"I'll be fine," Kei assured him.

Toshi left rather hurriedly after this and Kei was glad. He was finding it increasingly difficult to focus and when he heard the apartment door click shut he released a breath that he didn't realise that he had been holding.

_What is wrong with me?_

Kei honestly felt as though he was teetering on the edge and at any moment he would plunge right over it. He didn't know if Toshi had noted the change in him but he felt sure that his friend had been in little doubt that Kei had not been in control of himself for a couple of seconds when he had first woken up.

He had tried to rationalise the change in balance between the vampire and what remained of his humanity. He had tried crushing the vampire before, back when he was still relatively young but Luka had always been at his side and had helped him to get a feed so there was no question of him starving himself and, in those days, he hadn't really wanted to, not deep down. Kei understood that the vampire was not a separate entity but his instincts and was as much as a part of him as his human side. The two sides needed each other but right now his vampire side was trying to gain control over his human side. Perhaps going for so long without a feed had done something, something to tip the balance? It was the only explanation that Kei could think of but he was fast becoming out of control. He had fed and yet the vampire inside of him wanted more, it wanted to kill, to drink from a live victim and, with growing horror, Kei realised that it wanted Sho. The vampire loved Sho just as much as his human side did but the vampire's motives were selfish ones. It wanted to bind Sho to him, to make him stay with Kei forever. The vampire wanted to take Sho's humanity.

Kei felt sickened at this realisation and this, coupled with fear, was making him weak.

"I'm still in control," he whispered out loud, more to reassure himself than anything. He had to hold himself together long enough to kill Chan and then… then he would do whatever it took to protect Sho from himself.

* * *

For the rest of the day, Sho feigned sleep. He could tell that Dr Huang was still present and he had no wish to try and make conversation with the man who was forcing him to stay here. A couple of times there were others present, too. The men were part of Jian's gang, Sho supposed, come to check up on him no doubt. He kept his back to the doctor, thinking that perhaps the man could tell that he was awake had he been facing him. Sho had tried feigning sleep around Kei before but the vampire could always tell and thus Sho wasn't sure how good an actor he was. It paid to be cautious, especially at the moment when he was waiting for an opportunity to escape.

So far there hadn't been one. Dr Huang rarely left the room and Sho was undecided about the course of action that he should take. He wanted to escape, to try and find a way to help Kei but he could very well endanger Shinji if he wasn't careful. There was so much that he didn't know and this not knowing frightened him more almost. After all Kei had been so weak… what if he had…

Sho mentally winced, firmly crushing such a thought from his mind. Kei wouldn't let anything like that happen, not when Sho was in danger and needed him. Had circumstances been different, Sho's pride would not have allowed him to think that he needed Kei to save him, for he was more than capable of escape, but at present he needed something to cling to, to convince himself that Kei was fine.

The sound of the door opening once again broke through Sho's thoughts and he felt himself tense slightly, and thankfully this small movement went unnoticed.

"Is he still asleep?" came a voice, different from Dr Huang's.

A pause followed and then "Yes."

"I've had word from Jian. It is to happen tonight."

"Tonight? You are sure of this?"

"Jian seemed to think that he'd want to get the job done as soon as possible, considering what's at stake."

"I see. Have there been any instructions for the handover?"

"Not yet. Jian wants to make sure that he does the job properly before agreeing any terms."

Dr Huang was silent for a moment before replying, "And if things don't go according to plan?"

"Our instructions are to kill one of them."

They moved further away, to the door, and Sho stopped listening as panic began to set in. They were talking about Kei that he was sure of. They were using him and Shinji to force Kei into something and Sho intended on finding out what this was.

He forced himself to remain still, to wait until Dr Huang shut the door and silence followed, indicating that the man was alone again.

Sho was still unsure of whether or not his strength had returned but there was only one way to find out, he thought grimly. Taking Dr Huang by surprise, he sat up, moving as quickly as he could to get off the bed and slam the doctor up against the wall. This movement so quickly was not the best idea but Sho had the momentum and he was several heads taller than Dr Huang and this proved to be to his advantage now.

In a low voice, he demanded to know what was going on. Dr Huang shook his head at first and stubbornly refused to elaborate on the conversation that Sho had overheard, however, some carefully applied pressure to the doctor's neck forced him to reconsider.

Sho's blood ran cold at Dr Huang's words; that Kei was going to kill Chan in order to keep himself and Shinji from harm. His thoughts flashed back to the Kei of the passed couple of weeks and how unwell he was. In his normal state, Sho could not have doubted that Kei would kill Chan but things had changed. Kei was weaker and if he was caught… Sho didn't know what would happen. Kei said often enough, and somewhat bitterly, that he couldn't die from gunshot wounds but if he was too weak to heal himself…

His mind already made up Sho struck Dr Huang hard enough to render him unconscious. Thankfully there were no more guards and even if there had been, Sho wouldn't have allowed them to stop him. The moon was already rising and Sho knew that he was running out of time.

_Kei…_

All his thoughts were for the vampire and Sho ran from the hospital, not even acknowledging his body's requirement for him to take things easy for a little longer; only Kei mattered now.

* * *

Kei parked the car away from the Chinese District and, despite reservations; he decided to walk the rest of the way. Jian had supplied him with details of the hospital where Xiong was and various addresses that Chan could be residing at. He had already been to the hospital and now he was heading towards Chan's home.

Unlike their usual jobs, Kei felt apprehension for there was a lot more at stake than simply money and feeding. Sho's life depended on Kei now and he didn't intend on failing him.

Also unlike the usual jobs, Kei had come prepared. Whilst his fangs were the most deadly weapons he possessed, he did not want a trail leading back to him so he had also armed himself with mortal weapons. The guns that he had strapped to his waist had been taken from Sho's array of weaponry. He had also taken extra clips and hidden a knife in a strap on his left ankle. Not wanting to take the chance of standing out, Kei wore only black and kept to the shadows as he walked as well as choosing the back alleys were possible. It had been a long time since he had hunted, and had never set out to kill a man in cold-blood. Despite Chan being evil, Kei couldn't help but wonder if whether what he was doing was evil also. No, he shook his head as though to further convince himself. He was doing this for Sho; nothing else mattered.

His vampire nature had quietened since he set out. Satisfied with the prospect of a kill, the vampire was content to allow the human side of Kei to have control for now.

He lit a cigarette as he walked, the nicotine taking the edge off his anxiety. Kei hated feeling so out of control and had worried himself with the reasoning behind this for hours now. It had to be something to do with his refusal to feed. Luka had often warned him of such things, but Kei had not heeded his dead mentor's advice. Before Luka died, Kei felt the years to be more bearable. He and Luka had travelled together and then when they parted ways for a number of years, Kei was able to manage on his own. It was because he had known that he wasn't alone, that Luka was out there also. Then, when they finally met each other again, Kei had found that Luka had changed. Eternal life no longer held an interest for him and so he ended it, and tore Kei's heart out from his chest in the process.

Even with Sho he found it so difficult to muster the will to live. Living alone after Luka had died had been intolerable and Kei had welcomed how Sho made him feel. However, this was a double-edged sword for Sho was human and one day his life would come to an end.

In Mallepa lives tended to run their course much more quickly owing to the dangerous lifestyle that most of its population led. Kei had accepted this also, or so he thought, but he could not accept that this would include Sho, too. Kei had vowed long ago to protect him and that was what he would do now.

Chan's home was not how Kei had imagined it to be. It was a rather normal looking apartment block in one of the better parts of town. Still, despite this, there was graffiti on the brickwork and somewhere in the distance police sirens wailed. Trying to uphold the law in Mallepa was next to impossible and Kei never envied the ones who tried.

He double-checked the address against the one that Jian had given him; it was correct. Tossing down his cigarette, Kei scanned the building, looking for the best approach. Two men, both of whom were armed, guarded the front entrance. Quietly, Kei moved around to the rear of the building and saw that it also was guarded. He hadn't been foolish enough to think that Chan wouldn't take such precautions; in fact it made his job easier for now he knew for certain that Chan was inside.

Surveying the building, Kei saw that there was a fire escape on the first floor and a metal ladder leading down from it. Both doors, he would guess, would be protected by a number system and, even when threatened, Kei doubted that the guards would be willing to give him the code. The other problem was that Kei wasn't sure if he could kill both the guards without making any noise.

Keeping well within the shadows, Kei forced himself to observe them for a few minutes. They weren't exactly taking their job too seriously. One was engrossed in reading a paper whilst the other was smoking a cigarette and listen to music on a MP3 player and not looking in Kei's direction.

Returning his attention to the fire escape, Kei debated his next move. It was only a few metres from his hiding place and it might be possible to… he had not tested his stealth much since he met Sho for the younger man was not one for subtlety and tended to rush into things. Still, Kei was pretty confident he could make it there without being seen. The lights from the apartment lit the ladder and the part nearest the guards and so Kei was forced to move round to the other side. He could jump higher than a normal human but to jump straight up from the ground floor was something that not even he could accomplish.

Uneasily, Kei eyed the guards and they were both now turned away from him. He had to risk it, he thought to himself. Even if they did spot him he could get inside and find Chan first, it would just mean more blood spilt that was all. If he tried to get in through the door then the men guarding the front would come running and the carnage would alert Chan to Kei's presence.

Nodding to himself, Kei cast one more look in their direction before moving from the safety of the shadows. The run up to the fire escape gave him the added lift he needed. Grasping hold of the railings, Kei pulled himself over quickly and dropped the floor as he heard the men's comments from below. Whereas he had been moving too fast for a human eye to see, they had sensed some kind of movement and were now shining a flashlight in his general direction. Of course, neither suspected that anyone could have scaled the fire escape without being seen and so they did not think to shine the light up there. Kei laid still and after a few moments they dismissed what they had 'seen'.

He slowly got to his feet, keeping as close to the building as possible; Kei discovered that the fire door was also coded for outside entrance. Cursing under his breath, he moved further round to the window beside it. It was an old wooden style frame with a lock but it gave easily under the vampire's strength. Sliding it open carefully, Kei climbed inside.

Instantly, he scented humans and he froze whilst trying to ascertain just where they were in the building. Thankfully there were none in his direct vicinity. They were on the next floor; two or three, Kei estimated. There was no one else apart from them.

The door to the room that he was in was unlocked and Kei slipped out into the hallway, scanning it up and down just to assure himself that everything was okay. The hallway was lit but some of the lights had died and others flickered every so often. The flickering was bothering Kei slightly and he was glad when he reached the stairs.

As he started his ascent he felt a momentary pang of guilt at what he was going to do. Chan's death he could almost justify but the other scent that he had picked up was female.

This is for Sho, he told himself firmly. The only way that Sho would be safe would be if he did this. He had to do this; he didn't have another choice.

Kei reached the second floor far quicker than he would have liked. He could now hear talking coming from a room at the end of the corridor and he could see light under the door. His initial assumption had been correct – there were three people inside. This complicated matters, as Kei would have liked to have the element of surprise but in this case it would appear that he would have to forgo this luxury.

He un-holstered one the guns clipped to his belt and moved quickly down the corridor. Once he reached the door, Kei felt another momentary doubt. However, he hurriedly crushed this and grabbed the door handle. The door was locked but the lock easily buckled with the force that he applied to it.

Kei wasted no time in pushing the door open and stepping into the room. There were two men seated on the sofa; Chan and another man, this one younger. The woman must have been asleep in one of the adjacent bedrooms.

Without hesitation, Kei shot the younger man. The bullet struck him just below his ribcage and he slid off the sofa and onto the floor, his blood rapidly soaking the carpet. At that moment the bedroom door opened and the woman came out. As soon as their eyes locked she opened her mouth to scream. In a flash, Kei raced over to her, moving as though he were nothing more than a blur. He struck her over the head with the barrel of the gun, rendering her unconscious. A shot fired at that same moment that she fell down and Kei grunted in pain as a bullet struck the right upper side of his back, lodging itself in his lung. He gasped out as he felt it collapse and his legs gave way beneath him under the unexpected pain. His gun fell from his grasp as he hit the floor and he lay there momentarily stunned as he felt his body repairing itself. Chan evidently thought that Kei was dead and went to his wife's side, trying to rouse her. Seeing he was distracted, Kei grabbed his knife and plunged it into Chan's calf. The Chinese man let out a scream and fell to the floor as Kei twisted the blade before pulling it free. Blood gushed from the wound and Kei felt some splashes land on his face. He got to his feet and reached for another gun.

As he did this, he was suddenly tackled from behind. The younger man was not dead after all. They both crashed into the small coffee table, the glass shattering upon the impact. Kei let out a snarl as some glass embedded itself in his shoulder and he felt his fangs descending at the scent of blood. The younger man had a gun also and fired three shots in quick succession. This time, Kei managed to dodge them and lunged at the terrified man. He growled as he made contact with the younger man, his second gun was discarded as instinct came into play. He pinned the man down on the broken table and went for his throat.

Instantly his senses exploded ten fold as warm blood poured from the gash in the man's artery and into Kei's mouth. His eyes snapped open as a part of him realised what he had done but by then it was too late to stop. The man screamed as Kei tore away from him, his deadliest weapons tearing through flesh as he did so.

Another growl escaped him as his eyes locked onto Chan's. The gang leader had even forgotten his wife and was crawling towards the door, screaming for help as he did so. For a brief second, Kei wondered why the men outside had not yet come to Chan's aid. However, this was soon forgotten as he felt his vampire side flare up again as Chan reached the door; his prey was escaping.

_No…_

Somewhere in the back of Kei's mind, he felt the human side protest as he pounced on Chan, grabbing him by his shirt and slammed him up against the corridor wall. Tears poured down the man's face as he begged for mercy. Chan's pleas fell upon deaf ears as the vampire struck. Kei's fist connected with Chan's chest and his screams reached a new pitch as Kei's hand shattered bone. Then, as suddenly as they began, he fell silent. Chan's legs collapsed and Kei withdrew, allowing him to fall to the floor.

Blood… all around him, coupled with the scent of other humans. Kei could smell the unconscious woman inside the apartment and he took a step towards the door. He was almost there when he detected another scent. Snarling, Kei whirled around at the sound of someone calling his name.

The human who dared approached him did not flinch as they locked gazes and somewhere deep down Kei recognised him, even though he could not awaken enough of his humanity to recall the man's name.

"What have you done?" The human cried out, visibly sickened at the carnage.

_What have I done?_

At these words, Kei sprang away, slamming the younger man into the wall before taking flight. He raced along the corridor until he came to a window at the end. The glass shattered around him as he jumped and sirens wailed in the distance, having been alerted by frightened neighbours.

However, Kei remained oblivious to this. As soon as his feet touched solid ground again, he broke into a run; even failing to notice the four dead bodies slumped outside the apartment block.

Somewhere deep down inside of him, the humanity was screaming in protest at his actions but for now the vampire was fully in control.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven: Aftermath**

_"What have you done?"_

Sho struggled to withhold a gasp of pain as he was slammed back into the wall opposite. His stomach was churning at the slaughter that the vampire had left in his wake. Never before had Sho seen such brutality and it sickened him to the core. He had seen so many men die, and been responsible for a number himself, but this was different. Sho killed knowing that the men he shot would show him no mercy. This was cold-blooded and almost torturous. Chan's chest cavity had been completely smashed under the force that Kei used.

Kei… had Sho not seen the murder with his own eyes he would not have believed his friend capable of such a thing. True, Kei was a killer but never before had he taken pleasure in what he had to do to survive and he had seen pleasure in the vampire's eyes. It wasn't his friend that Sho had seen but a glimmer of the monster that Kei was so afraid of, the monster that lurked just beneath the surface. Before he had been so weak and now he was strong. Sho's back still hurt from the force that Kei had applied when pushing him out of the vampire's path and Sho knew it was useless to go after him now. It would be dawn soon and Kei would be looking for shelter.

Sho also knew that he could not be found here. If he was then he might well be implicated in what had taken place. He could hear the sounds of a woman's sobs but he ignored these as he hurried quickly down the corridor. In the distance police sirens wailed; the woman must have called them, Sho thought to himself.

He made his exit hurriedly and, thankfully, unhindered. Once outside he debated what he should do next. A part of him wondered if he should go over to Toshi or Son's but another part of him just wanted to be alone with his thoughts. One thing was for sure, Sho would not tell his friends what had taken place tonight.

_But what if he tries to hurt them?_

Sho did not want to think of that possibility and again doubts flooded his mind. Perhaps he should go after Kei after all?

The sirens were getting louder now and Sho did not wish to linger. His foot kicked something lying on the ground and on closer inspection he realised that it was a mobile phone, most likely belonging to one of Chan's men. Sho pocketed it before hurrying down the street.

He put a good two blocks between himself and the apartment before stopping to make his call.

"Hello?" Toshi's voice was hesitant for he had not recognised the number that Sho was using.

"Toshi, it's me."

"Sho! Where are you?" The relief was very much evident in his voice and it brought Sho some comfort to hear it.

"In the Chinese quarter. I was able to escape. Where are you?"

"We're at Son's place. Shinji's here too."

_I don't want anything more to do with either of you. Ever_

Shinji's word still hurt but Sho had forgiven him for them. He was just glad that his brother was safe.

"How is he?" He asked tentatively.

"Not great. Jian's guys roughed him up quite a bit. It's the withdrawal too. He says he wanted to stay clean but I don't know. He's said this so many times before."

Sho had heard this before too and so Shinji's words did not mean much to him. His brother had a habit of making such empty promises after all.

"Do you want to talk to him?" Toshi asked next.

"No," Sho replied quickly, "I'll be over in the morning so I'll speak to him then."

"In the morning?" Toshi echoed.

"Yeah, I've got some stuff to take care of first."

"Are you sure that's wise? Jian's men will be looking for you."

"No they won't," Sho murmured, thinking back to the scene he had just left behind.

Toshi paused for a second before asking next, "Have you seen Kei?"

"No," Sho answered, a little too hurriedly and he could tell that Toshi knew he was lying. However, his friend knew not to push the matter and merely said that they would wait for him at Son's apartment.

Sho was only too glad to get off the phone. Now that he knew his friends were safe he felt a weight being lifted from him. He did not have to worry about them at least.

_I've got some stuff to take care of first_

This was not necessarily true but he wanted some time to himself so that he might think about what he was going to do next. There was also the matter of Jian, and Chan's murder. Who was to say that Jian wouldn't decide to blame his father's death on them? This was a possibility and Sho considered making contact with the man himself.

_But it was Kei that he came to the agreement with._

Perhaps he should try to find the vampire after all?

* * *

"How did this happen?" Jian's question was calm, despite the inward fury he felt. He fisted his hands as he paced up and down the small room. There were still a couple of hours to go before dawn and still no word from his men.

"He… I was careless," Dr Huang admitted softly, "I believed him to be unconscious."

"Our only bargaining chip and you let him escape," Jian's voice rose slightly, allowing a glimmer of his anger through. "Do you realise what you've done?"

"We still have the other, perhaps--"

"No we don't!" The last of his restraint snapped and Jian lunged forward, withdrawing the gun concealed in the lining of his jacket. He slammed the doctor hard into the wall and pressed the barrel between his eyes. Dr Huang gasped, the colour draining from his face.

"Please… I beg of you."

Many men had been in Dr Huang's position now and Jian had never permitted them mercy and he wasn't minded to do so for the man whose incompetence had most likely killed them all.

Shaking his head, he put enough pressure on the barrel to force a grunt of pain from Dr Huang's lips. A tear slipped free and rolled down his cheek, yet this act failed to penetrate through Jian's fury. Only the crash as the door being thrown open did that.

He recognised the man as Hui, a newer recruit to Jian's gang. Hui was only eighteen and yet he had a skill for firearms and promised to be a great ally, given time. However, at the moment he was young and naïve to the gang-politics that Jian involved himself in. He was also new to the horrors that they faced and this horror was clear to see on his face.

"Sorry," he stammered when he saw the situation that he had interrupted, "but I… I have some terrible news," he blurted out at length.

At this, Jian lowered his weapon and took a step towards the younger man. Even though he knew what Hui was about to say he had to act as though he knew nothing.

"What is it?" He demanded, feigning anger, "We are in the middle of discussing something of utmost importance."

Dr Huang shrank back a little at these words. The relief that Hui had interrupted their 'discussion' was evident in his eyes but Jian was not prepared to allow him to get away with his mistakes.

"It is your father… he's dead," Hui answered and he winced slightly, as though expecting a blow for delivering such terrible news.

"Dead?" Jian repeated, his tone suggesting that he did not quite believe Hui's words.

"Y-yes. I just received a call from Li. He wasn't there when it happened but the police were called to the apartment and so he knew…" Hui trailed off at this and waited Jian's reaction. Li was their man on the inside of Mallepa's police force. It was Li who prevented the police looking into too many of Chan's affairs.

"How did this happen? Was it the Taiwanese?" Jian demanded.

"No," Hui shook his head, "Li hadn't seen anything like it before."

"How did he die?"

Hui's face twisted in a grimace as this question forced him to recall just what Li had told him. "Horribly," he managed to answer at length.

Jian moved over to the sofa and sank down onto it, placing his head in his hands as he feigned distress when in actual fact the emotion that he was feeling was nearer to relief. With his father dead he could take his rightful place as leader of the gang.

"There's more," Hui ventured when Jian failed to provide any further reaction. "Your mother survived. She was the only one but what she saw… it sent her into madness. Li was only able to speak with her briefly before she had to be sedated but… she said that the man who attacked them wasn't human. She spoke of oni."

"Demons?" Jian looked up, putting on anger now, "Such talk is nonsense."

"I know," Hui lowered his gaze and shifted his position a little in nervousness, "but she also gave a description of the man. Li didn't recognise him but I do. I've seen him before. I've seen him…" Hui trailed off and shook his head, "I'm sorry, sir."

"It's okay," Jian motioned for him to continue. "What is it?"

"There was a raid on one of our warehouses about two months ago. All the men inside were drugged but I escaped as I was stationed outside. Someone hit me and I blacked out for a while but when I came to it was too late. They were Japanese I think. There were two of them. One was tall with dark hair in braids and the other was shorter with dyed blonde hair. The taller one was looking for money but the blonde one…" Hui shuddered, "He was…"

"What was he doing?" Jian demanded.

"He had one of the unconscious men and was… it looked as though he was drinking his blood."

A curl of panic tightened itself into a knot in Jian's stomach and he hid this with more anger as he sprang up from the sofa. "How dare you lend life to madness with such tales?"

"It's…" Hui stammered, clearly not expecting this reaction. "I know what I saw."

"Get out."

"Sir--"

"My father is dead and you have the cruelty to speak to me of oni and creatures that cannot exist. A rival gang must be held responsible for my father's murder and make no mistake I will find the culprit and ensure that they pay dearly for it. Now get out."

Hui would have been a fool to protest further and once the door clicked shut Jian turned around to face Dr Huang again.

"You begged for another chance and now I am giving you one. He knows too much. Make sure he never leaves the apartment block."

"Jian?" Dr Huang's face registered some shock before the desire to live overcame it. Still Jian could understand his hesitation; doctors tried to save lives, not take them. However, Hui could not be allowed to repeat his knowledge to anyone. Dr Huang swiftly followed in the younger man's tracks and Jian was left alone again.

_It looked as though he was drinking his blood_

Although he had given the vampire his word that no harm would come to him and his human companions, Jian was now considering breaking this promise. His hold on the gang leadership would be tentative at best until he had proved himself and what better way to do that than to prove himself by killing the immortal? He had learned a lot from Sho's brother indeed, including the one way that a vampire could be killed; by sunlight.

* * *

_At these words, Kei sprang away, slamming the younger man into the wall before taking flight. He raced along the corridor until he came to a window at the end. The glass shattered around him as he jumped and sirens wailed in the distance._

_However, Kei remained oblivious to this. As soon as his feet touched solid ground again, he broke into a run; even failing to notice the four dead bodies slumped outside the apartment block._

_Somewhere deep down inside of him, the humanity was screaming in protest at his actions but for now the vampire was fully in control._

It was past dawn when he sensed the movement that drew him from sleep. His eyes slid open a fraction to observe the man standing over his cot-bed. He detected the humanity, even over the scent of blood, and also the fear. A flicker of annoyance entered his mind at being disturbed so early in the day but this quickly passed and he longed for sleep to reclaim him. He had fed and so the blood lust did not enter his mind. There was something familiar about the human, something that bothered him. Humans could not harm him but he would not allow himself to sleep in one's presence and he pushed himself up into a sitting position. His head tilted up as he considered the human. He did not attempt to conceal his nakedness from the man, even when the blue gaze looked him up and down several times. His clothes had been discarded on the floor at the end of the bed; the amount of blood on them was too much for him to get clean and he had not bothered with changing for he was in his home and had assumed that he would not be disturbed.

Now, however, as his perception heightened, he realised that he could smell the human's scent in the apartment too and all over the furnishings. They shared a home? He had not shared a home since his sire… He flinched, as though thinking of the man physically hurt him and this action did not go unnoticed by the human.

"Kei? Are you hurt?"

_Kei…_

His gaze settled on the hand that gently touched his shoulder and from there it travelled up to the young man's face. He was familiar and something told him not to hurt him.

"I'm fine," his voice came out strained and he managed to shrug off this contact, but his confusion remained.

"Are you sure?" The human asked, his doubts heightening the vampire's own. "You don't look too good."

"I…"

_Somewhere in the back of Kei's mind, he felt the human side protest as he pounced on Chan, grabbing him by his shirt and slammed him up against the corridor wall. Tears poured down the man's face as he begged for mercy. Chan's pleas fell upon deaf ears as the vampire struck. Kei's fist connected with Chan's chest and his screams reached a new pitch as Kei's hand shattered bone. Then, as suddenly as they began, he fell silent. Chan's legs collapsed and Kei withdrew, allowing him to fall to the floor._

_Blood… all around him, coupled with the scent of other humans. Kei could smell the unconscious woman inside the apartment and he took a step towards the door. He was almost there when he detected another scent. Snarling, Kei whirled around at the sound of someone calling his name._

_The human who dared approached him did not flinch as they locked gazes and somewhere deep down Kei recognised him, even though he could not awaken enough of his humanity to recall the man's name._

"No…" it all came back in a rush and Kei felt more self-loathing and hatred for himself in those few seconds than he had in an entire lifetime.

"Get away from me!" He pushed Sho away as his friend tried to reach for him. Whereas Kei felt no grief for Chan, for he had killed him to ensure Sho's safety, he felt sickened at the recollection of the manner of Chan's death. No human deserved that. He should have shot him, that had been his intention and somehow the monster had risen to the surface again.

Kei bolted for the bathroom. The fresh supply of blood in his system meant that he was but a blur racing passed Sho. He slammed the door as tears of despair threatened to overcome him.

_The vampire wanted to take Sho's humanity_

He felt a chill at this and this took a further hold on him when the bathroom door opened. Sho stood uncertainly in the doorway as he took in Kei's form, which had slumped against the basin for in his misery he lacked the will to stand. Sho's hesitation lasted mere moments and he entered the room without a thought for his own safety. He reached Kei's side and slipped the robe that he was holding around the vampire's shoulders. Kei offered no protest until he cast his mind back to the events leading up to Chan's death.

Kei felt a rush of fear pulse through him as he noticed straight away the change that had started to overtake him. Before Luka had turned him, his hair had been black rather than blonde. It had been a side effect of the transformation, Luka had assured him. It was perfectly normal but this, Kei knew with certainty, could not be normal. The changes had completed themselves over a century ago so this could not be possible and Kei ventured closer to the mirror to make sure. His eye colour had changed from its usual moss green to a pale yellow.

A gasp escaped him and his head snapped up to glance in the mirror hanging over the basin. Relief surged through him when he saw the usual green staring back at him.

"Kei?" Sho's grip on his shoulder tightened to the point when Kei winced. "What's going on? For a moment… you acted as though you didn't even know me. The apartment's a mess. There's blood all over the floor, over your clothes… over you."

Kei closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. He forced Sho to wait another few minutes before replying. "Chan's dead."

"I know," Sho answered, a hint of anger entering his voice as he spoke, "I was there."

_"What have you done?"_

"Sho… I…"

"I don't care that he's dead. He would have killed us given half a chance," Sho murmured as he led Kei back into the front room. As though he was seeing himself for the first time, Kei saw splashes of blood on his bare skin and a shiver ran through him. He also suddenly felt conscious of his nakedness and pulled the robe closed as Sho guided him over to the sofa.

"But…" Sho continued after Kei had sat down. He paused for a moment, struggling to find the words it would seem, "not even Chan deserved to die like that," he said finally.

Kei raised his head and detected more than just pity in Sho's eyes; there was disgust also, although his friend tried to hide this as best he could.

"Why did you do that?" Sho asked when Kei failed to reply.

"I…" Kei hesitated, thinking back over all that had happened and how he had been fighting against what he was for so long, too long perhaps.

_You can't love a monster_

If there had been any lingering doubts in the back of his mind they had vanished that night and with Chan's death, Sho was safer and no longer needed Kei's protection. Of course, living in Mallepa no one was completely safe but Chan was a major threat and now that threat had been removed. Sho had the potential to become someone now. The Chinese had dominated the city for too long and Jian lacked the strength or leadership to continue this. The Japanese would start to take back the quarters that the Chinese had overrun. The world was ever changing, Kei knew this more than most, and he could no longer see a place for him in it. He could still feel what it was like to lose control completely and the liberation that came with this was overwhelming. Surrendering himself completely to the vampire's instincts had been a relief in part and Kei did not know if he would have the strength to come back from it again. Once the balance had been tipped, he did not know if it could ever truly be restored.

"I lost control," he admitted softly when he saw that Sho was still waiting for an answer.

"It's okay," Sho sat down beside him and tentatively drew Kei to him. Kei sighed and allowed himself to return Sho's embrace for it was offered in comfort this time and he trusted himself enough to accept it.

The daylight hours made Kei feel fatigued and he did not try to fight off the sleep that quickly overcame him. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against Sho's chest, taking further comfort from the steady beating of Sho's heart. It was too late for them and he hoped that Sho realised this too for the last thing that Kei wanted to do was cause his friend any further pain.

He knew that Sho had further questions and was grateful that the younger man did not choose to voice them now. For the first time since his ordeal began, Kei felt at peace and he fleetingly wondered if Luka had felt this way too. Of course he must have done, for Luka had lived in torment for far longer than Kei wished to be.

His grip on Sho tightened as his body relaxed and Kei was vaguely aware of his friend gently moving out from under him and then laying him on the sofa.

_I love you_

Kei might have imagined these sentiments being uttered but he hoped not, especially when he heard the apartment door click shut a few minutes later. Then all that was left was silence.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve: The Ocean**

Sho was aware that he was still shaking as he left the apartment. A small part of him was questioning the wisdom behind his decision to leave but after Kei had gone back to sleep, he felt that the best thing would be to let Kei get his rest; that they could talk more tomorrow. So he decided to drive to Son and Yi-Che's apartment. They would all be waiting for him after all.

_I lost control_

Kei was so often warning him of the monster that he claimed he was and for the first time when Sho entered the apartment, when Kei had looked at him and not truly 'seen' him, he had felt afraid of him. Yet despite it all, he was still Kei and all Sho's previous thoughts and considerations left him. He had gone to Kei without any thought of his own safety. He still trusted Kei completely and nothing could break that, not even after what he had seen.

For the second time in days, Sho had held Kei and he felt something different about their last embrace. Despite all the pain that Sho knew Kei was feeling, the vampire had calmed. Before he would become upset and call himself a monster but this time he hadn't done either of those things and Sho had not known what to make of it. He knew that Kei would be feeling hatred towards himself but he had held his silence and Sho again debated turning the car around and driving back to their apartment.

_But he might want some time alone… _

This thought nagged at him and prevented him from doing what his first instinct was telling him to do.

He reached Son's apartment without mishap but it took him about half an hour to enter the block and then knock on the door. Still torn by misgivings, Sho didn't know if he wanted to see his brother at the moment.

_You have to sooner or later _he imagined Kei pointing out to him as he often did when Sho's stubborn streak prevailed. Kei was nearly always right, and as much as Sho did not wish to admit it, he knew that Kei would say the same now.

Finally Sho knocked on the door. Son answered it and greeted him with relief and hurriedly ushered him inside.

"Where have you been? We've been worried about you," were his first words.

"I'm fine," Sho answered, preferring not to answer the question of his whereabouts. He still felt very shocked by the side of the vampire that he had seen, a side that he never knew existed, and Sho didn't feel like sharing this encounter anytime soon for he felt sure that Son and the others would not be as trusting as Sho was.

"Are you sure?" Son was still regarding him with some suspicion. "There's blood on your jacket," he observed quietly after a few moments pause.

"It's not mine," Sho dismissed him in a non-committal fashion, leaving the Taiwanese to merely follow as he moved into the living room.

Shinji was seated on the sofa and Yi-Che was beside him, although she got to her feet upon seeing Sho. She appeared shaken and Sho felt a pang of regret that he had gotten them, albeit unintentionally, involved in all of this. Son's injuries, her fear… all of it was down to him.

_Chan's dead now. Perhaps with his death this can all end… _

Somehow, Sho didn't believe this. He had a horrible feeling that it was only just beginning.

"Nii-chan?" Sho wasn't sure how to begin. The last words that were spoken between them were done so in anger and Sho wasn't sure how they could get passed this. He had known that Shinji hated Kei, he had always done, but Shinji had to accept that Kei was a part of his life and always would be.

"Toshi went out to look for you," Son said quietly. "I'd better call him and tell him you're here."

Yi-Che also left the room; the two of them obviously feeling it would be best if they let Sho talk to his brother alone.

_"He took you away from me. I became obsolete in your eyes. Because of my leg I couldn't protect you anymore but you'd already found someone else for that hadn't you? Even now you'd choose him over me any day. I can see it in your eyes. You'd rather be with him right now than have this conversation with me!" _

_"Shinji, please--"_

_"The truth's hard to hear isn't it? Well let me tell you something else. Do you think I haven't noticed the way you look at him? It's very obvious that you're in love with him and that sickens me. I'm leaving and you can't stop me. In fact, I don't want anything more to do with either of you. Ever."_

"I'm glad you're safe," Shinji broke the silent between the brothers, although he kept his gaze fixed on a point on the floor rather than meet Sho's gaze. "I would have looked for you but…" he grimaced slightly. "I figured I'd be the last person that you'd want to see."

"You're hurt," Sho moved towards the sofa and sat down beside Shinji, feeling equally as awkward. The angry words spoken between them still caused him pain and he just couldn't forget them, no matter how hard he tried.

"I'm sor---"

"Don't," Sho cut him off abruptly and his brother did look up at him now.

"Sho--"

"Don't," Sho repeated firmly. "Don't tell me you're sorry and you didn't mean what you said because you did mean it. You meant every word of it, didn't you?"

"Not all of it," he answered softly. "I didn't meant the part where I don't want anything more to do with you. You're still my little brother, Sho."

Feeling at a loss, he simply shook his head, unsure of what to say. He always liked to act tough and he knew that Shinji did also. Even though they were family, Sho couldn't quite ever bring himself to say exactly what was on his mind. Usually they would fight, harsh words would be said and then they would forgive each other. This time it was different.

"I'm going to try and make things better," Shinji continued, the expression on his face revealing just how difficult this was for him also. "I'm clean and I intend to stay that way. I'm also going to try and work things out at the store. Put in regular hours and such."

"That's good," Sho answered him. He tried to sound as positive as Shinji appeared to be but he had heard all this before from his brother. Many times Shinji had issued him with empty promises that had never amounted to anything.

"I mean it this time. I want to start over."

"Then it'll please you to know what you no longer have to worry about Chan; he's dead."

"Dead?" Shinji repeated, his eyes widening a little in shock. "Sho, you didn't--?"

"No. Kei did."

"Of all the stupid--"

"He did it for us. He made a deal with Jian. If he killed Chan then we would be left alone to get on with our lives. That precious new start you keep talking about? Kei gave up everything to ensure that you got it."

"And I suppose now I should be so grateful to him that I forget about everything else that's gone on?" Shinji returned angrily to this.

Sho shrugged and stood up, "That's up to you but if you really intend on starting over then I suggest that you accept that Kei is a part of my life and I'm not going to change that just because you don't like it."

"I don't like the way he looks at you," Shinji admitted quietly. "He'll turn you into a monster if you let him."

Unintentionally, Sho shivered, recalling those few moments where Kei had come so close to feeding on him. He had seen that look before sometimes also and Sho, deep down, despite Kei's assurances that he would never turn him, could keep to this promise. Sho even wondered if he secretly did want Kei to break it one day.

"I trust Kei," he said at last when he realised that Shinji was still looking to him for a response.

"Fine," Shinji replied to this with a sigh. "I don't want us to fight anymore, Sho."

Sho understood what he was trying to say and knew that he would never get Shinji to accept Kei, let alone like him, but his brother would tolerate the fact that Kei was a part of Sho's life.

_It's very obvious that you're in love with him_

This would also remain unspoken of, for it was something that Shinji would never understand and Sho didn't wish to dwell on the matter in any case. He fleetingly recalled the kiss that he and Kei had shared and how they had now put it behind them as though it never happened. Whereas a part of Sho felt relief at this, he also felt disappointment and sadness. He'd had girlfriends in the past but they meant nothing in comparison.

It seemed a little moot to consider approaching the subject again with Kei. The vampire knew how Sho felt and even though Sho suspected he knew the reasoning behind Kei's unwillingness to pursue the issue, he would leave things alone. Especially when he recalled the state that Kei was currently in.

_Maybe I should go back to the apartment and check on him… _

As Sho processed this thought, he suddenly felt light-headed. He stumbled back into the sofa and Shinji caught his arm to steady him whilst yelling for Son and Yi-Che.

"I'm fine," Sho snapped, trying to pull away from his brother. "Just a little dizzy, that's all."

"You're exhausted," Son pointed out as he and Shinji forced Sho to be seated on the sofa. "You should take things easy for a while. I'm sure Yi-Che will make you something to eat."

The Taiwanese girl nodded shyly to indicate that she would.

"Kei," Sho shook his head, hating how weak he suddenly felt. "He wasn't too good earlier. I need to go home and check on him."

"I'll call him," Shinji, much to Sho's surprise, offered. "I've got to start talking to him again sometime," he added when he saw the look of shock on everyone's faces.

"Okay," Sho reluctantly agreed. "Tell him that I'm here and that I'll be back before dark."

"Sure," Shinji replied to this.

After this conversation, time seemed to get away from Sho a little. Shinji went into the kitchen to make the call and Yi-Che also went to start making him a sandwich. Son sat down next to him and tried to make conversation but Sho found that he could hardly keep his eyes open. The fatigue came on suddenly although he tried as best he could to resist it. After a few minutes it became too much and the last thing he remembered clearly was thinking that it would hurt for him to have a quick rest.

* * *

When Sho woke, he was momentarily disorientated and it took him several seconds to remember where he was. Startled, he sat up, his vision finally coming back into focus as he struggled to adjust to the gloom. The drapes were partially open and he could see the lighting sky outside. Dawn wasn't long away now.

_Just how long have I been asleep for?_

Glancing around, Sho saw that he was still in Son and Yi-Che's front room, on the sofa, and that there was another person asleep in one of the chairs.

"What time is it?" Sho demanded as he roughly shook the sleeping person.

"Argh! Sho!" Toshi complained as he started at the suddenly contact. "You scared me," he grumbled, wincing as Sho switched the lights on. Shinji had been asleep in the other chair but had also woken up now.

"What time is it?" Sho repeated urgently.

"I don't know," Toshi snapped irritably. "Just after 4am I think."

"Why did you let me sleep for so long?"

"You were tired so we figured we'd let you get your rest," Shinji commented to this.

"Does Kei know I stayed over?"

Shinji shrugged. "There wasn't any answer when I rang before."

"WHAT?" Sho rounded on his brother, feeling his temper flare at this information.

"I left a message on your machine. It was the morning so I thought he'd be asleep," Shinji defended himself.

At this point Son and Yi-Che had come out of their respective bedrooms and Son was asking what was going on. Sho himself couldn't understand his worry but something was telling him that he needed to go home. Now.

"I'll see you guys later," he said as he grabbed his jacket and headed for the door.

"Sho--" Shinji started but Sho was out of the apartment before his brother could finish his sentence.

The drive back had to be the shortest on record and Sho was convinced that every camera in the district had caught him speeding. However, none of this mattered to him. He felt so panicked that he could hardly stand it and he just didn't understand his reasoning for it at all. On the way he had tried to call the apartment but the answer machine was still switched on.

_What's going on? For a moment… you acted as though you didn't even know me. The apartment's a mess. There's blood all over the floor, over your clothes… over you_

Sho left the engine running when he finally reached their apartment block. He raced up the stairwell, taking two or three at a time. When he reached their apartment he was shaking so badly that it took him three tries to open the door. His heart was beating almost painfully fast when he finally got inside.

Sho ran into the front room, silently pleading for Kei to be on his leather sofa bed as usual and berate Sho for charging about like an idiot and for waking up the neighbours. However, the bed was empty and the bloodied clothes from earlier were still on the floor where Kei had left them.

"Kei?" Sho called out as he went from room to room searching for the vampire.

_It's okay… he's just gone out to feed. I'm sure he'll be back soon _

Sho came to a pause outside of Kei's bedroom. Unlike Sho's own, Kei's room was always kept tidy. The bed was always made and there were never clothes strewn all over the floor. It appeared the same now but something else had occurred to Sho and he was desperately hoping that he was wrong.

Kei very much guarded his privacy as he did his past, however, Sho knew where he hid certain belongings to do with his past life. It had been an accidental discovery on Sho's part. He hadn't gone looking but he had lost one of his favourite shirts and he had wondered if perhaps it had got mixed up with Kei's things instead. The vampire was still asleep and Sho had been reluctant to wake him so he decided to go and have a quick look in Kei's wardrobe to see if he could see it in there.

It was then that he had found the small wooden box. Sho had seen it once before. When he decided as a boy that Kei could live with them, the vampire had returned one night with it. He had never said what was inside although Sho could guess that it was to do with Kei's past. That day, having being faced with it again, he hadn't been able to resist the temptation to take a quick look inside.

A part of Sho had been hoping that there would be more clues to Kei's past. Although he understood why Kei wished to keep this to himself, it had never stopped Sho wondered and temptation had got the better of him that day.

There hadn't been much really. There was an old cigarette case, not unlike the silver one that Kei usually carried round with him, a watch, a couple of other trinkets and two badly faded pictures. The first one was a six-inch copy of a painting. It was of a middle-aged couple and although Kei appeared more Gaijin now than true Japanese, the resemblance to him was still there and so Sho had guessed that the couple must be his parents. It also gave an inkling as to how old Kei really was and Sho couldn't deny that he was shocked when had he turned the picture over and read the date '15 July 1885'.

The second photo was in colour, although faded, and had been taken in Japan. Sho recognised the landmark building in the background as the Tokyo Tower for he had seen photos of it before. The day had obviously been overcast and it had been raining before the photo had been taken. The first man in the photo was Kei and his appearance was similar to how he looked now, although his hair was slightly longer back then. The Kei in the photo was smiling, although his gaze was more directed at his companion than the camera. The other man was older and Sho had always figured that he must be Luka. Luka wasn't looking at the camera directly either. His gaze was more fixed on a point out of the photo. A faint smile was touching his lips but it didn't reach his eyes. It was as if he already felt that he had lived too long.

Sho had put the box back without ever mentioning it to Kei. After a time he felt bad for having gone through Kei's private things but he was also glad that he had seen a little of the life that Kei had, had before. Up until then, Sho had thought that Kei was the sentimental type.

It was now that Sho thought of the pieces from Kei's past and he raced over to the wardrobe, yanking the doors open and rummaging around until he found that box again. Sho brought it out and tipped the contents onto Kei's bed. He remembered every single item and it didn't take him long to see what was missing. The photo of Kei and Luka was gone.

_Kei… no… _

Sho fled the apartment in a panic as the terrible realisation dawned on him. The reason why Kei had seemed so calm when Sho had left him and the reason that the photograph was missing.

_I should never have left him… _

Sho was dialling Kei's mobile number as he left the apartment block. He didn't think he'd even bothered to shut the door on his way out but nothing else mattered at the moment. He felt as though he couldn't breath. His world was crumbling around him and there was nothing that Sho could do.

_That isn't true. I'll find him. I'll find him and stop him… _

So lost in these panicked thoughts was he that Sho barely registered when he was grabbed roughly from behind. He yelled in surprise when his attacker twisted his arm behind his back, causing him to drop his phone onto the concrete.

Sho gasped in pain, although some shock touched his face when he recognised the man that he was now forced to face.

"Sho," Jian greeted him with a cold smile.

* * *

Kei could not remember a time when he had last felt at peace with his eternal life. Even with Luka he had always felt something, whether it was need, longing or even regret. His emotions had always been a torment for him, even in those early days when life was more appealing. They had later morphed into something darker and when Luka began to reject Kei and the life that they had together, Kei had felt as though he had turned a page in his own history. When Luka had taken his own life, Kei had hated him for being so selfish and this hatred had been such that he had carried it with him for a long time. It was only after Kei met Sho that he began to understand why Luka had taken his life and Kei could see that past repeating again.

The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Sho.

It had been dark when Kei awoke. He felt stronger thanks to the feed and now that the vampire nature was repressed, he was able to think clearly again.

Sho was still out when he left the apartment and for this Kei was glad. With Chan gone, Sho no longer needed him and Kei felt as though he had now done everything that needed to be done. There was no longer any point in him carrying on. He had seen Sho and his friends through to adulthood and now they would have to start taking care of themselves.

Now he would begin to hold Sho back and stop him from living his life as he was supposed to. When Luka first turned Kei, Kei had been angry that Luka had stolen his human life away from him. Kei could see that history had a very real chance of repeating itself and he didn't ever want that for Sho. He loved him too much for that.

So it was time to let it all go. The waves broke gently against the sand and already the pre-dawn chorus was starting.

Kei stood on the shore, staring out to a point on the horizon. He could almost feel Luka's presence beside him and he slipped the photograph that he had been carrying into his coat pocket. Even though he could feel his vampire nature resisting, he now had the strength to repress it. He had done so many terrible things. The world had now entered a new era and monsters from legend were becoming more irrelevant as the old tales were forgotten by time.

He had seen too many ages and now grew weary of them all.

"Kei!" He, at first, fancied that he imagined Sho's voice as he stared at the lighting sky. The sun had yet to break through but it was only a matter of time. Then the cry of pain that followed drew him back from his reverence and Kei turned back towards the shore and his tranquillity vanished in a heartbeat.

Sho slumped down into the sand, reeling from the blow that Jian dealt him. Two others flanked the Chinese man and both of them had reached for their guns.

Kei felt his heart clench at this sight. He had not wanted it to be like this.

Jian stepped forward, aiming a swift kick to Sho's ribs as he passed, forcing the younger man down again. The look of agony on his face was more than Kei could bear so he concentrated on the advancing enemy.

"We had a deal," he said steadily, keeping one eye on the approaching dawn.

"We did," Jian's smirk made him feel uncomfortable. "And I am afraid I have to admit that I intended to go back on it, well in part anyway, but when Sho was kind enough to tell me where I would find you, I discovered that you are being so kind as to do my job for me."

"You wish to kill me."

"My position is in question. Killing you will ensure that my men are never disloyal to me. I will surpass even my father. He has killed many men, many rival gang leaders but he cannot lay a claim of killing the immortal."

Kei felt a spark of panic at Jian's words, not for his own life, but for Sho's. Jian would never let him live, not after this. Sho managed to get to his feet, but remained where he was standing, unable to take his eyes off the scene unfolding before him.

"So," Jian's cruel smirk never left his face as he shifted his gun into his hand. "We're going to wait for this sunrise together, and if you try to escape," he raised the weapon so that it was in line with Sho's head, "I'll kill him."

* * *

_Kei… _

"We're going to wait for this sunrise together, and if you try to escape I'll kill him."

Sho found it almost impossible to breathe as Jian raised his weapon but this was not the source of his panic. A part of him couldn't believe that this was happening. Every fleeting memory pained him as much as the lighting sky did in that moment. Kei was the most important person to him in the world and now it looked as though Sho was about to lose him.

"Kei, run," Sho called desperately, tears almost blurring his vision as he pleaded with the vampire. "Save yourself." Of course he knew it was hopeless. Kei hated his eternal life and he wished to die no matter what.

"Put down the gun," when Kei spoke it was not to agree to Jian's demands. Sho blinked back more tears and stared at the vampire in shock as his gaze became cold.

Jian laughed shortly at this. "Do you really think you're in a position to be making demands? I know that sunlight will kill you. All I have to do is wait."

Kei's eyes narrowed and he took a step towards the leader of the Chinese gang.

"Stay back," Jian warned, cocking the gun as he did so.

Kei had once said that he could out-run a bullet and, true, Sho had seen him dodge them many times but never before had he seen Kei actually race against one. He had wondered if the vampire had been simply showing off, but as he registered the gunshot, Sho dearly hoped that Kei had been telling the truth after all.

Still, Sho squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the pain.

He uttered a grunt of surprise when Kei crashed into him. The two of them fell back into the sand; Sho wincing a little from the fall as he landed on his back with Kei sprawled on top of him

They lay that way for a moment. Sho breathed deeply, feeling relief that Kei had got to him in time. Yet his relief was short-lived. Kei pushed himself up off of Sho and placed himself between the two men. Casting a glance over Kei's shoulder, Sho saw that it was almost dawn. Kei couldn't afford this standoff; he had to do something.

Jian had taken his gun and already his men were closing in on them. The situation was hopeless and Sho hated being this defenceless. He wanted to help Kei but there was nothing he could do. If he moved then Jian would kill him.

Jian was well aware that he had the advantage and a smirk formed across his face as he pointed the gun at Kei's head. Sho yelled at Kei to move but Kei didn't. A shot rang out and Sho closed his eyes.

_Kei… _

It was only when two more shots followed in quick succession that Sho opened them again. To his shock he saw that Jian was sprawled in the sand. His gun hung limply between his fingertips. He was dead. His companions had met a similar fate and suddenly there was someone beside him urging him to stand.

"Son?" Sho asked in confusion, not understanding quite how his friend had reached them so fast.

"We followed you," the Taiwanese man said in answer to this unspoken question. "When you left my apartment. We saw Jian catch up with you and followed you both here."

"It was a good thing we did too," Shinji interjected as he appeared in Sho's line of vision. "Now come on, let's get out of here."

Sho nodded and stood, although his gaze was focused on Kei. The vampire appeared hesitant and Sho felt a stab of fear run through him at this. The sun would be up at any moment. "Kei, come on."

"Sho--"

"Kei," Shinji surprised them all, not least Kei, by reaching out and grabbing the vampire by the arm. "Just get in the car. There's been enough death for one day, don't you think?"

Kei's eyes narrowed a bit at this but he complied with Shinji's request and followed them to the car, where Toshi was waiting.

"I borrowed it from a neighbour," Son said by way of explanation. "And I promised I'd get it back to him before he has to go to work so we need to hurry."

Son got into the passenger seat and Sho ushered Kei into the back before getting in beside him. Shinji climbed in after him. Son had left a blanket on the back seat and Sho made sure that as much of Kei as possible was covered by it before they set off back to Son's apartment.

"What about those guys?" Toshi asked, referring to the carnage that they had left behind them. "Won't Jian's gang now be after us?"

"I don't think so," Son answered him. "The word is that many of Chan's old gang aren't happy with Jian and his dealings. He wasn't a popular leader and there were already talk of plans to have him replaced. I'm sure whoever steps into his shoes won't be interested in tracking us down."

"There's no witnesses anyway," Shinji added to this.

"That's good," Toshi said with a sigh of relief. "I don't know how much longer I could take all this running for."

_Just get in the car. There's been enough death for one day, don't you think?_

The rest journey back was completed pretty much in silence and Sho couldn't help but mull over Shinji's words. He was of little doubt that they had swayed Kei into coming with them and Sho couldn't quite believe that Shinji would do that for them, especially as he knew how his brother felt about Kei. Sho felt hope at this, hope that he and his brother really could make amends as Shinji had indicated earlier that he wanted to.

Son parked the car as near to the apartment as he could and went on ahead and opened all the doors before Sho helped Kei out of the car. The vampire's silence was worrying Sho but he tried to put that out of his mind as he helped Kei reach the safety of the apartment without mishap.

Upon their return, Yi-Che was waiting anxiously just inside the doorway. She silently hugged Son and quickly ushered them all inside. Kei discarded the blanket at this point and slumped down into an armchair whilst the others hovered behind him. Even Sho felt unsure. His first reaction was to shout at Kei for inwardly he was partly furious that the vampire was going to leave him after all that they had been through. However, part of him also wanted to help Kei. Sho knew that he could never fully understand what Kei went through but he hated seeing him suffering so much and it frustrated him to think that he was powerless against it.

This, combined with everything, was fast becoming too much for Sho. He just didn't know what to do anymore. He _couldn't _lose Kei but Kei made it seem as though it were the most selfish thing in the world. He had too many conflicting emotions bottled inside of him right now.

Equally, his friends didn't seem to know what to do or say in this situation. Even Shinji was being uncharacteristically silent. In the end it was Kei who was the first to speak and then it was just to state that he was tired and that he just wanted to get some sleep.

"You can use my room if you like?" Son offered but Sho cut him off by snarling out:

"Like hell you do. We need to talk, Kei."

"When you're like this?" Kei answered quietly as he got up. "We'll talk this evening, Sho."

"Kei--"

"Leave it, Sho," Toshi caught his arm when Sho took a step in Kei's direction.

"Fine," Sho snapped as he shook Toshi off of him. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. Kei didn't say anything more to this and merely retreated to Son's room. Sho sighed to himself and refused to meet his friends' worried gazes. He just didn't know what to do anything. How on earth could he convince Kei to live knowing that Kei loathed his very existence? Perhaps he was the selfish one, Sho thought angrily to himself, but he knew that he had to try. Kei had been a part of his life for too long now and he had to find a way for the vampire to see this no matter what.

* * *

Not a word was spoken between them as Sho unlocked their apartment door and stepped inside. Kei followed him in equal silence. Habitually, he had woken as soon as darkness fell and once he was awake, Sho had announced that they were going home. Kei felt too disheartened to object to this, despite concerns from their friends that they might be better off staying at Son's for another night. They didn't trust him, Kei knew, and this didn't really surprise him. After recent events he didn't even know if he trusted himself anymore.

He had been ready to die. He had felt as though everything had closure and then Jian's appearance had completely shifted his focus once again. In those fleeting moments when Sho's life had been in danger, Kei had found that he had something to live for, but it was hope in its own falseness. He couldn't remain Sho's protector for the rest of his friend's life. What kind of existence was that for either of them? Sho had to be allowed to fend for himself and if his choices ended up in his death then Kei knew that he had no right to interfere. It was the human lifecycle after all and he had been so foolish as to think that he could change that.

Kei went over to his sofa bed and sat down upon it, watching as Sho opened the drapes to allow some moonlight to filter into the front room. Sho stood by the window for a while, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. He had calmed a little from this morning but by the tenseness in his posture, Kei knew that this wouldn't last for long. Sho had always been over-emotional when it came to the vampire.

"Why?" was his first question and one that Kei knew that he could not deny him an answer. A small part of him was angered that Sho even had to ask when he knew how much living like this pained Kei.

"I'm tired, Sho. I can no longer live like this. It's killing both of us."

"So what, you were just planning on giving yourself to the sun without even saying goodbye?"

"Would you have let me go?" Kei countered with as he raised his head to meet Sho's gaze. There were tears in Sho's eyes, although he held them back for now at least.

"Of course not! But we both know I couldn't stop you! Gods Kei, how many times do I need to say this to you? I don't care how many people you kill; you do it to survive!"

"You might not care but I do. I'm a monster, Sho."

"No, you're not. A monster would kill without restraint or compassion."

Kei almost laughed at this statement. "You know nothing about it, Sho. You could never understand what I have to go through."

"Don't," Sho snapped as he approached Kei. "Don't you dare tell me I don't understand? I've lived with you for years, watching you torture yourself. I can't even remember a time when you haven't torn yourself apart over what you are and I just wish that you could see yourself how I see you. I don't see a monster, Kei. I never have."

_Blood… all around him, coupled with the scent of other humans. Kei could smell the unconscious woman inside the apartment and he took a step towards the door. He was almost there when he detected another scent. Snarling, Kei whirled around at the sound of someone calling his name. _

_The human who dared approached him did not flinch as they locked gazes and somewhere deep down Kei recognised him, even though he could not awaken enough of his humanity to recall the man's name. _

_"What have you done?" The human cried out, visibly sickened at the carnage._

"Haven't you?" Kei asked softly, and he winced when Sho was forced to look away. "I lost control, Sho. You saw what I did and if that happens again… I cannot risk it."

"You won't," Sho declared stubbornly. "I won't let you get to that point again."

"Sho, you are grown up now. You don't need me and I'm just weighing you down," Kei said with a heavy sigh. He was growing weary of the same discussion. It was a tired argument and Kei found it almost too painful to speak of now.

"Damn right I'm grown up now," Sho agreed as he reached Kei. He sat down beside him before speaking again. "And I don't need a minder, but I don't see you as that. You're my best friend, Kei, and in that respect I will always need you. I love you."

This declaration did not stun Kei as it had before but, in truth, it terrified him. He held similar sentiments for the younger man but this was how it had started before. He wanted to deny that he felt the same way. In order to prevent history from repeating Kei knew that he had to tell Sho that he didn't feel the same way, that all he wanted was to die, but this was now an untruth. He _wanted _to be there with Sho. He wanted to stay with Sho. Those moments when he thought that he might lose him had affirmed this. Despite his earlier misgivings, Kei felt hope returning and his depression did not fall so heavily upon his shoulders.

"Sho," he began as he felt the younger man's gaze on him once more. Kei could hear the rapid beating of Sho's heart and this only served to remind him once more that he could never be human. He had seen so much in one lifetime, perhaps too much, but after Luka he never thought that he would find someone who could see passed what he was and see the human he had once been.

"This is how it began with Luka. I loved him and he turned me into a monster. I… I could do that to you one day. Even though I've always sworn I wouldn't, I might not be able to stop myself."

"Do you think I haven't considered that? I have but I trust you, Kei. You need to have more faith in yourself."

Kei laughed bitterly at this statement. "What if I can't?"

"You can. You couldn't have looked after us all of these years otherwise."

"Sho--"

"I know it's difficult for you," Sho said as he got up from the bed and moved back towards the window. "And don't go telling me that I don't know what it's like again because I do. I've watched you torture yourself for more years than I can remember, but if you'd really wanted to die then why wait until now?"

"You were growing up and needed me."

"We were getting on fine before you came along. You know what I think? I think deep down you don't want to die, not yet."

"This morning I did," Kei admitted quietly. Never before had they talked like this and he had always imagined that it would be awkward between them if they did. Now, however, he felt that the words flowed easier between them. After everything there was no need for this pretence that they had, had before. "I felt as though there was nothing left. Then Jian tried to kill you and…" _and it made me realise that it wasn't enough for me to give you your life, that I wanted to be a part of it still. _

"And?" Sho prompted him when Kei lapsed into silence once more.

"I realised that I don't want to die," he finished quietly. "But I've killed so many…"

"To survive," Sho said to this. "And if you continue to dwell on it then it will kill you."

"And if I don't then I will truly be a monster."

Sho shook his head. "You're determined to beat yourself up over this aren't you?"

"I kill people, Sho."

"So do I, so I guess that makes us both monsters," Sho pointed out.

"But you--"

"Stop making excuses."

Kei looked away, partly feeling a little anger that Sho was so dismissive but partly feeling relief that he saw things that way. Perhaps Sho could see things clearer than Kei could after all?

His focus had momentarily been elsewhere and so Kei was taken a little by surprise when Sho rejoined him on the sofa bed. This time, Sho wasn't hesitant and pulled Kei into an embrace. Despite his misgivings and worries, Kei returned Sho's kiss, feeling the heaviness that had weighed upon him since this all began beginning to lift slightly. Neither of them was under any delusions that this was going to be easy. Kei had lived this way for too long to simply change his thinking over-night but somewhere he felt it, a faint spark of the life that he had lived so long ago and the person that he had been then beginning to return. There was still the question of Sho's mortality but Kei chose not to dwell upon this. Before he had met Sho, and after Luka's death, the months passed in a blink of his eyes but only because there had been nothing worthwhile in his life at that point.

Kei had seen so many ages and so much history, but he had always watched lifetimes pass him by from a distance. Now things were different.

"Sho," he murmured as they parted to allow the younger man breath. "I love you, too."

End.


End file.
